To quote from the Star:
Thursday August 7, 2008 MYT 4:58:51 PM Leak along pipeline causes oil spill off Miri
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: Petronas Carigali has suspended decommissioning works on a network of disused pipelines offshore Miri in northern Sarawak after detecting leakage along a 13km pipeline that lays between an oil platform in the South China Sea and the inshore Miri Crude Oil Terminal.
The company’s contractor and staff from the Department of Environment are now in the midst of an operation to contain the spill and to clean up the oil sleeks that had washed ashore, causing pollution to a stretch of beach along an exclusive housing estate occupied by oil and gas industry expatriates in Lutong town, some 20km north of the city here.
DOE Miri chief Dayang Norbani on Thursday confirmed that the leakage has been contained and that 90% of the spill had been recovered. “We are now in the midst of trying to recover the other 10%. Petronas’ contractors are also cleaning up the beaches to ensure that the pollutants are removed.
“We are still trying to determine how the leak occurred and how much of the shoreline has been affected,” she said when contacted.
To a question, she said the DOE is still trying to find out if any populated riverine villages were affected by the oil pollutants.
Dozens of workers from the oil company had been deployed at various points along the affected zones to ensure that the oil sleeks do not get washed back to the sea.
PETRONAS on Thursday issued a statement saying that “about 15 barrels of oil” trapped in the pipeline had leaked into the South China Sea, and the leakage was spotted at 7.40pm on Tuesday.
The company said that air surveillance had been carried out and it was found that there were no additional signs of leakage.
“The company had deployed divers to detect the exact location of the leakage on the pipeline for repair works to be done,” said the statement.
The pipeline was installed in 1984. A new pipeline was installed last year.
The decommissioning works on the old pipeline started on Monday and was supposed to go on for three weeks.
Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 