was reading up several articles about the Deep Horizon deep submersible rig that was recently plugged. realized that BP is liable for a 75 million USD environmental damage fine (capped, maximum possible fine) and may yet face even more fines under the clean water act legislation (up to 4,300 USD penalty per barrel of oil leaked). one estimate put BP's may face a possible 8 billion USD liability in total.

cost could be borne by other parties involved in the rig's implosion. namely, the rig builder and leasing company. Fortunately, the deepwater horizon wasnt built in singapore. It was built in Korea and leased out by a third company. But given the amount of jack-up and semi-submersible rigs we produce, are we liable to such legal action and problems ? the reputation damage could be devastating.

from another angle, the recent malaysian tanker leak does demonstrate our vulnerability to ecological disasters. given that we are the world's largest bunkering port (ship fuel) and we have plenty of smaller vessels and very large vessels, in particular VLCCs and in the near future, large Natural gas tankers, is there any way we could make it safer ?

environmental security (should that be an area of concern for us) ?

The oil spill off Changi has cost loss of life, and even more lives are affected. Unfortunately for those involved, their lives don't matter to most of the general public.

A couple of links:
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2010/05/cru...victims-on.html

http://colorclouds.blogspot.com/2010/05/af...anah-merah.html

This is really heart-wrenching to see thos photographs. I mean SG is tiny and so not have much wild-life to begin with thus is very importatnt to stop this from ever happening again.

What are the legal actions to be taken towards those responsible for this oil spill?

MPA will sure take action against the party involved, especially the negligent party after an inquiry is carried out. Cost incurred in clearing up the pollution will be billed to the involved parties. Insurers and P&I club of both vessels, while waiting the inquiry report, will commence their own investigation.

In short, such incident entail a long-tail legal process.

The school holidays is just round the corner and I hope that it'll be cleared ASAP.

Really angry to see the marine life being devastated by the oil. :angry:

Clearing up the pollution is no easy task. Tidal movement and weather is one big obstacle. Take a look at the pollution caused by the recent oil leaked over at US. There are procedures to follow. It takes time and cannot be rushed.

Actually SG have quite a bit of wildlife http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/animals.htm

Of note too, is our flora & fauna. Bukit Timah nature reserve is the largest tract of rainforest in SG. Established in 1883 it is home to more than 840 flowering plants & over 500 species of animals & butterflies. Renowned British botanist & environmental campaigner Dr. Robert Bellamy says "SG has more plant species than the whole of North America."

http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/btnr.htm

From what I understood from a friend in the business, it is not really a rig problem but a safety valve problem. The safety valve couldn't hold back the huge pressure when the drilling was done (recall the scene from the movie Armageddon, where the drill vehicle flew away due to extreme pressure built-up when drilling the hole to put in the nuclear device), and the chain effect of the explosion from the bottom went upwards towards the rig.

So the builder shouldn't face any liability issue.
I might be wrong.

Its definitely BP's liability. Was in the states for the past week. The finger has been pointed at Obama. When that happens, the prez points his finger at BP and volunteered their pockets/wallets.

Apparently BP has already spent ~US$1b on the repair ops which has gone on for 6 weeks already. Its a massive enivonmental disaster and BP boycotts have been going on across country. Its even harder as New Orleans/Louisiana suffered Katrina and many businesses who managed to survive Katrina won't survive this.

It was both a rig and valve problem. The rig noted the issues and there were warning signs a few hours before the accident. There was a series of errors that culminated in explosions that killed 11, sinking the rig and damaged the underwater oil valve that can't now be stopped. Then BP went into crisis management mode that basically meant protecting their a**es but no concrete action.

Made worse was that all the focus was on stopping the leak which was difficult enough. The valve is 5000 ft underwater with such a pressure force that basically makes it close to impossible to cap ie the pressure will just blow off anything that tries to cover it. They tried to block it with heavy mud (top kill) and junk (junk shot) but the pressure just blew everything out. The only possible way now is a relief well being dug that will take 2 months to dig.

So clean up was not done until last week when the oil has already spread into the wetlands which are a vital part of the louisiana landscape. Plus allegations of sending clean up crews to areas and timings only when the prez visited. Sigh...

The exxon valdez incident spilt 37,000 tons of oil. The early indications are that at least 75,000 tons (some say 150k tons) of oil have already spilled in this BP incident to date and more every day. Exxon's liability topped US$3-5b.

That's 50-100 times worse than the SG's leak which incidentally was far more better managed in comparison.

"Best" news of all, the hurricane season is starting. Good luck to the US gulf coast residents. They need it.

thanks guys for the insights and responses. its days like these that make nuclear energy (and hopefully, fusion energy) so appealing.

how about a LNG tanker leak ? does that affect the water in any way ? the risk is more of it being blown up, and/or being sunk rather than a gash in the tanks ?

My understanding is that LNG released into the atmosphere vapourises ie becomes gaseous. The risk is more from gas explosion and gas poisoning.

Having said that, below is an interesting doc.
http://www.marad.dot.gov/documents/DWP_--_..._Over_Water.doc

GIC's shares in BP take a knock
Gabriel Chen
Fri, Jun 11, 2010
The Straits Times


OIL giant BP's ongoing share price slide is knocking Singapore's publicly-traded investments.

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation's (GIC) shareholding in the company could have lost US$540 million (S$760 million) in value since May 1 as a result of the fallout from the Gulf of Mexico oil spillage.

This figure is based on Bloomberg data which shows that, as of May 1, GIC had 200.4 million shares in the British company worth around US$1.68 billion. It also assumes GIC has not bought or sold any more BP shares from that date until now.

http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/...611-221466.html