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Indonesia plans to pump oil out of supertanker grounded near Singapore gas pipeline

Indonesian authorities are attempting to pump out the oil from a supertanker that ran aground in Indonesian waters just off Singapore, industry sources said.

The plan to offload the oil from the fully laden tanker is risky considering the proximity to a critical gas pipeline that supplies gas to Singapore, the sources added.
“The Indonesian authorities understand the risks involved and they will have to be meticulous in the execution,” an industry source said.

A second source familiar with similar operations said the lightering of the tanker was necessary because the supertanker was carrying a full load of oil of close to 300,000 tonnes when it ran aground.

“You are not going to be able to refloat the tanker unless you remove the oil from the ship to make it lighter, so to speak, as these are shallow waters,” he said.

Sunil Kurup, general manager of Oman-based Oceane Marine and Trading, a company that specialises in ship-to-ship (STS) operations in the Middle East and Asia, said the Indonesian authorities would need to assess just how much oil needs to be pumped out of the ship before it floats again.

This is necessary because the Indonesian team will need to evaluate the size of the ship to be used to receive the oil being pumped out of the grounded tanker, and to carefully assess the safety of the STS operation” he said.

With the grounded tanker being close to a gas pipeline, the team on the ground would need to determine the undersea currents before conducting the operation to offload the oil from the grounded tanker, he added.

“If the currents are strong enough, it can cause the tanker to drift towardss the pipeline as the oil is being pumped out of it, and the team involved will also need to ensure that the vessel is secure. This will likely require them to have multiple tug boats on standby because as the vessel is being lightered and starts to float, the tugs will help to control the tanker’s movements.”

Indonesian media have reported that the regional maritime authorities from Karimun are leading the efforts to offload the oil from the supertanker.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said the Djibouti-flagged tanker Young Yong had grounded off Takong Kecil in the Riau Islands in the Singapore Strait at around 8.20pm on Oct 26. MPA noted that the grounded tanker was not impeding traffic in either the Singapore or Malacca Strait.

In a media statement, MPA said that before the incident, its Port Operations Control Centre had sent warnings through its Vessel Traffic Information System to the tanker on the potential risk of it grounding due to shallow waters.

MPA added that it had also alerted the Indonesian authorities immediately after the incident.

A Singapore-based company, Singapore Salvage Engineers, has been called in to assist the refloating of the 21-year-old oil tanker. The company declined to comment.

An industry source confirmed media reports that said the incident took place close to a critical natural gas pipeline.

The Straits Times has asked the Energy Market Authority (EMA) if the pipeline had sustained any damage, or is in any danger of doing so while the tanker is refloated, or if supply operations have been disrupted as a precautionary measure. The EMA was not immediately available to comment.

Singapore depends on imported gas for about 95 per cent of its electricity needs and is vulnerable to any shifts in global supply-demand fundamentals. The bulk of this supply comes in via pipelines from Indonesia.
Source: The Straits Times

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