Friday, November 24, 2006
Singaporean firm hired to siphon oil
INSURER of the Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation (SMDC), owner of the sunken MT Solar 1, which spilled oil throughout the shoreline of three municipalities in Guimaras Province, hired Sonsub, an oil recovery ship of a company in Singapore.
Saipem Singapore, which owns the ship, will be paid 6 to 8 million US dollars by the P & I, the ship owner's insurer.
Saipem's Director Joel Weston said the company is yet to manufacture and modify some of its equipment to be used in siphoning the oil from the sunken M/T Solar 1.
The siphoning will be done on the middle of February or on the first week of March and will take 20 days.
Sonsub will use a Remote-Operated Vehicle (ROV) to put in place in the vessel's deck, a hull valve and a machine which would drill and slurp the remaining oil from ship to a shuttle to the buffer ISO tank. From the ISO tank, the oil will be carried to the disposal plant.
Weston said they'd bring it to Guimaras.
Once the siphoning is done, the contract between the P&I, International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd. and the Saipem signed last Friday, is fulfilled.
Sonsub's latest siphoning experience was in Spain, where a 13,500-ton ship Prestige sank 3,850 meters deep from sea surface.
The siphoning was a success, said Wesdton.
Weston said that as per an earlier ROV report, M/T Solar, which is 1, 640 meters deep from the surface, remains stable in condition and unharmed by inclement weather and water pressure.
He also downplayed the depth and said there will be no oil spill. (LABB)
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(November 24, 2006 issue)
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