Singapore holds oil spill drill to test inter-agency co-ordination

THE Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) recently organised a multi-agency joint oil spill exercise named "JOSE 2012" to examine the country's competence to handle oil spills at sea.

Besides MPA, 2,000 personnel from different government agencies and industry partners participated in this drill, as it was organised in conjunction with this year's Singapore International Bunkering Conference hosted by MPA.

The exercise involved a situation that a fully loaded very-large crude carrier (VLCC) collided with an oil tanker 1.5 nautical miles north east of Raffles Lighthouse, resulting in impairing two cargo tanks of the VLCC and spilling 8,000 tonnes of its Arabian Light Crude into the sea.

To deal with the situation that a large quantity of oil was spilled and spreading swiftly, MPA implemented its oil spill contingency plan and deployed dispersant spraying craft to solve the problem.

Also, the drill tested the effectiveness of the relevant equipment, such as oil containment booms around the stricken tanker to prevent further escape of the oil, as well as the efficiency of oil recovery by using a heavy duty oil recovery system.