Welcome back to Asia Times On Air's
special coverage of "Fire in the Strait". I'm Gary
LaMoshi, in Hong Kong.
For those just joining
us, here's what we know so far. At approximately 8am
local time today, about three and a half hours ago,
a tanker traveling through the Malacca Strait waterway
carrying highly flammable liquefied natural gas, or
LNG, slammed into a second tanker loaded with approximately 2
million barrels of crude oil docked at a refinery in
Singapore.
Both ships burst into flames, now
engulfing the refinery. There have been dozens of
casualties among both crews of the two ships and
refinery workers. Firefighters are now battling to
contain the blaze within the refinery complex.
Singapore's outgoing Prime Minister Goh Chok
Tong has declared a national state of emergency and
placed armed forces on high alert. He has appealed for
calm. At the same news conference at which Goh made his
announcement, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew warned
Singaporeans "not to jump to conclusions about this
tragedy before we know all the facts".
Singapore has declared a six-kilometer exclusion zone around the
fire, which in effect closes down the Malacca Strait
to all traffic. The exclusion zone includes Indonesian
and Malaysian waters as well, but those two countries
have made no formal announcements about the zone. An
Indonesian naval spokesman reached in Jakarta told us by
phone that all traffic is proceeding normally through
its portion of the Strait.
So far, that's what
we know. Now we'll go live to Crystal Lim, on the scene
in Singapore, for the latest details. Crystal?
"Thanks, Gary. Authorities here are releasing
some further information about the two tankers. The
docked tanker, the SS Long Beach, belonged to the US
firm Caltex and had docked only about 15 minutes before
the collision. It was carrying a full load of crude oil
from Iraq for processing at this giant refining plant.
The second tanker, the Agung Jaya, belongs to Indonesian
state oil company Pertamina. The LNG it was carrying was
reportedly bound for China.
"Apparently, some
crew members were rescued from the water and are being
treated at local hospitals. But nothing they might have
said about the incident has been released publicly."
Crystal, what kind of progress are firefighters
making in battling the blaze?
"Well, Gary, we're
in a special media area more than six kilometers from
the perimeter of the refinery. But even from here we can
clearly see the flames, and there's a huge cloud of
black smoke surrounding the site. Authorities are
calling it the worst fire in Singapore's history.
"The flames are as high as a 20-story building
or more, and the black cloud is higher than that and
spreading in all directions. Even here, several
kilometers away, we can feel the heat and smell the
smoke. I can also tell you that, in addition to the
expected irritation in our eyes and throat, some of the
media crews here are complaining of nausea and fever.
"There's a rumor floating around that a yellow
cloud was seen over the ships immediately after the
crash. It's only a rumor, but that's led to speculation
that a biological or chemical agent may have been
released in the crash."
Crystal, that report
would point toward a terrorist attack, rather than a
simple shipping accident, wouldn't it?
"Gary, as
I said, it's only a rumor, and personally, I'm feeling
fine. The firefighters are wearing full protective gear,
for the heat anyway, and there don't appear to be any
special measures being taken that would suggest anything
other than a very serious fire.
"However, there
are some other unusual things about the accident.
Standard procedures are for only one tanker to offload
at a time at this facility. Generally tankers wait in
the harbor for their turn. We don't know whether the
Agung Jaya was scheduled to stop at the refinery, but we
do know it was not supposed to be approaching the dock
when it did."
Interesting, Crystal. Can you tell
us any more about the refinery and the area around it?
"Well, the refinery is part of a large complex
that also includes petrochemical plants and other
industrial facilities. It's also near the area where US
military ships dock regularly on port visits. At the
time of the accident, the aircraft carrier USS
Enterprise was in port along with its flotilla of
support ships. We're getting reports that the ships are
preparing to leave or have left the port and returned to
the sea lanes as a safety measure.
"That roar
you hear overhead may be the tanker planes that
Singapore's air force has deployed to fight the blaze.
But, from what I can see, that one looks more like a
fighter plane. That's unusual ..."
Thanks,
Crystal. We'll be back to you for more in a few minutes.
Stay safe, and drink lots of water. Now, with the latest
on how this fire and its mysterious origins are
impacting markets, let's go to our business editor Akiko
Takanaka at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Akiko?
"Hi, Gary. It's lunchtime in Tokyo, so it may
look calm, but the operative word here is panic. The
Nikkei 225 and the broader TOPIX index are down more
than 7%. Stocks are retreating across the board here and
across the region. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index is down
almost 4%, Taiwan is off 7% and Seoul is down more than
11%. Rumors are spreading in South Korea and Tokyo that
the American Central Intelligence Agency staged this
incident to cut off oil supplies and cripple the
economy.
"In Singapore, prices are off just
2%. Reportedly, Singapore's banks and the Finance
Ministry's Temasek holding company, headed by incoming
prime minister Lee Hsien Loong's wife, Ho Ching, are
buying heavily. But oil futures are skyrocketing, moving
toward $60 a barrel - US - on the back of rumors about
what happened and fears that the fire may spread. Gary?"
Thanks, Akiko. What about currencies?
"As usual in times of crisis, the US dollar is
strengthening at the expense of other currencies. Since
OPEC sets oil prices in dollars, that means a double
whammy for places like South Korea, which has to pay
more dollars per barrel of oil while its currency, the
won, buys fewer dollars. That could have a devastating
impact ..."
Excuse me, Akiko. An unconfirmed
report has just been handed to me from Reuters news
agency of a hijacked tanker in the vicinity of the fire.
Apparently, a crew member using a cell phone made a call
to Malaysian police telling them that armed men had
seized a supertanker carrying oil for French oil giant
Elf Aquitaine. The crew member said that Malaysian
authorities were pursuing the vessel but stopped when it
entered Singapore's territorial waters. Malaysian and
Singaporean authorities refused to comment, according to
Reuters.
Again, this is simply an unconfirmed
news report. But obviously, in the midst of the chaos
surrounding this fire in Singapore, a hijacked tanker
carrying 2 million barrels of oil could enormously
complicate an already difficult situation in the Malacca
Strait ...
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information
on our sales and syndication policies.)
Aug 11, 2004
No
material from Asia Times Online may be republished in any form without written
permission.
Copyright
2003, Asia Times Online, 4305 Far East Finance Centre, 16 Harcourt Rd,
Central, Hong Kong
