Natuna Sea owner faces huge claims

Indonesian authorities claiming $17m compensation while Malaysia, S'pore have not announced claims yet; MPA estimates owner's liability to be $50m

By CHUA CHIN HON and KARAMJIT KAUR

THE beaches might be clean and the sheen gone from the waters, but the owner of the Natuna Sea faces multi-million-dollar compensation claims for the massive oil spill early this month.

Indonesian authorities are claiming US$10 million (S$17.4 million) compensation, while Singapore and Malaysia have yet to announce their claims.

The Natuna Sea ran aground on Oct 3 about 8 km from Sentosa, leaking about 7,000 tonnes of crude oil in Indonesian waters.

The crude oil had washed up on Johor and Batam's coastlines, as well as some of Singapore's southern islands.

Speaking to The Sunday Times about Indonesia's claim, Batam mayor Muhammed Nazief Soesila Dharma said: ""The money is to compensate the villagers and other locals whose livelihoods were affected by the oil spill.

""We are also claiming for the environmental damage caused by the incident,'' he said in Bahasa Indonesia.

""I believe that we are asking for a fair amount. Discussions are ongoing with the tanker representatives, and we will see what the outcome is.''

A spokesman for the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said the authority was still finalising the amount to be claimed.

MPA estimated the liability of the owner of the Natuna Sea to be about $50 million. This means that all claimants in the region who suffered damages, including clean-up costs, can claim a maximum of about $50 million from the tanker's owner.

But because Singapore is party to an international convention called Fund 92, it can access an additional $250 million if the sum that the owner is liable to pay is inadequate, the MPA said.

Mr Sam Norton, a spokesman for the vessel's agent, Tanker Pacific Management, said the company had not been notified of any claims from the governments affected by the spill.

Nearly three weeks after the tanker ran aground, the cause of the accident remains unclear.

Mr Muhammed Nazief had earlier said that preliminary investigations suggested the accident could have been caused by human error.

There were no strong winds, and the sea was relatively calm when the Natuna Sea ran aground, he said.

The tanker was re-floated on Oct 13, and had been anchored off Pulau Sambu, near Batam. It could not be towed to shipyards in Singapore for repairs as Batam's harbour master had withheld the Natuna Sea's papers, and no explanation was given, said Mr Norton.

""Until the investigation is concluded, it would be incorrect to reach a speculative conclusion,'' he said this week. The clean-up operations in Malaysia and Indonesia should be completed in a week's time, he said, estimating the cost of the clean-up in all three countries to be less than $10 million. The 7,000 tonnes of oil in the Natuna Sea spill is enough to fill an Olympic-sized pool 3-1/2 times over.