Singapore Works to Clean Oil Spill as Concerns Grow

The Wall Street Journal

07 January 2015

SINGAPORE — The maritime authority is working to clean up one of Asia’s largest oil spills in years after two ships collided late last week, amid worries the slick could spread to the nearby Indonesian tourist island of Bintan.

A Libyan-registered oil tanker, the Alyarmouk, and a Singaporean cargo ship, the Sinar Kapuas, collided on Jan. 2 in the busy shipping lanes northeast of Singapore, spilling an estimated 4,500 tons of crude oil into the ocean.

While there are no reports of further oil leakage, four vessels with equipment such as dispersants and skimmers have been deployed to the site to contain the oil spill, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said.

…”By today’s standards, 4,500 tons is a significant spill and the largest in this region for some time,” said Euan Graham, senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

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