A few days ago, a pipeline in Sabah, a Malaysian on the northern part of the island of Borneo, ruptured, spilling crude oil into the sea. It was reported that an oil slick with the dimension of 2800 meters by 30 meters was observed. The pipeline was repaired quickly, preventing more spills and I am sure, cutting the owner of the pipeline losses, which happens to be Shell.

Though pipeline was repaired, slick was merely observed on the first day. A report in The Star, a local press has the exact wordings:

“One of our vessels is monitoring the oil slick,” the spokesman said, adding that there were no reports of casualties or immediate threat to people and facilities.

On the second day, Shell monitored again without doing anything. I was already agitated. Shell had this to say:

A Miri-based Shell spokesman said yesterday that the slick was “dispersing and disappearing” with heavy rains over the area while the emergency response team was also carrying out cleaning works.

“It is not a major slick, the amount leaked could have been about three barrels of oil,” he said, adding that the pipelines had been depressurised.

Three barrels. I do not really know how much is that but let say the thickness of the slick is one millimeter. We know the both the length and the width of the slick so, the volume should be 84 meter cube.

On the third day, or maybe it was the fourth:

“The situation is back to normal and the minor oil sheen has dispersed naturally,” according to a statement from Sabah Shell Petroleum Company.

What does that supposed to mean? Naturally dispersed? You have just responsible for tossing almost 100 meter cube of carcinogenic material into the sea and you call that being naturally dispersed?

It would only be natural if the spill were not there at all, you irresponsible dimwit! You should have cleaned your mess!

I wonder if passing the buck to Mother Nature is a culture in Shell Malaysia?