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The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) organized a full deployment, multi-agency joint oil spill exercise (JOSE), code-named 'JOSE 2016', on Friday 7th October 2016, to test and demonstrate Singapore's readiness to respond to oil spills at sea. The exercise was held in conjunction with the Singapore International Bunkering Conference (SIBCON 2016), hosted by the MPA.

The ground deployment exercise tested the use of a new modern and efficient system, 'NeatSweep', to contain spilled oil. Over 250 personnel from 28 agencies participated in the table-top and seaward exercise that took place around the vicinity of Raffles Reserved Anchorage. Close to 80 delegates from SIBCON 2016 observed proceedings.

The exercise scenario involved a simulated collision off Raffles Lighthouse between an arriving very large crude carrier (VLCC) - carrying about 110,000 metric tons of Kuwait crude oil - and a transiting tanker in the west-bound lane of the Singapore Strait. The arriving VLCC sustained damage to two cargo oil tanks, spilling approximately 10,000 metric tonnes of oil. Two of the crew members on board the VLCC were injured and required immediate evacuation for medical treatment.

JOSE 2016 comprised a full-scale ground deployment and incident management exercise held to showcase multi-agency response capabilities. The exercise was also designed to serve as a platform for stakeholders to discuss and deliberate operational and policy issues to combat a major oil spill in Singapore.

Andrew Tan, MPA's Chief Executive, said: "The need to protect and minimise impacts of oil spills in our waters together with our partner agencies and stakeholders is an important component of our holistic safety programme. Multi-agency efforts to conduct regular joint oil spill exercises will be on-going to test and improve our spill response strategies and technologies for use in different scenarios. Today, we are happy to have ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd support the Joint Oil Spill Exercise. We are pleased that together, we have demonstrated that we have a well-coordinated and competent team ready to take on the challenges."

A list of the participating organisations has been provided below.

1. Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
2. ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
3. National Environment Agency
4. Public Utilities Board
5. Singapore Police Force (Including Police Coast Guard)
6. Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
7. Singapore Civil Defence Force (Including SCDF Marine Command)
8. Singapore Armed Forces (Including the Republic of Singapore Navy)
9. Ministry Of Health
10. Singapore Customs
11. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
12. Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
13. Singapore Land Authority
14. JTC Corporation
15. Housing and Development Board
16. National Parks Board
17. Building & Construction Authority
18. Sentosa Development Corporation
19. Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority
20. Oil Spill Response Limited
21. Singapore Oil Spill Response Centre Pte Ltd
22. Oiltanking Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
23. PetroSeraya Pte Ltd
24. Shell Eastern Petroleum Pte Ltd
25. Singapore Refining Company Pte Ltd
26. PB Tankers Ltd (Tankstore)
27. Singapore Petroleum Company Limited
28. Sembcorp Industries Ltd (SUT Div)