A clean-up operation in Birżebbuġa is in “a very advanced stage of completion”, three days after an oil spill was reported.

Transport Malta told Times of Malta people first reported spotting the refined, heavy slick of oil on Tuesday evening and the clean-up started on Thursday.

Asked to explain the delay, a spokesman said the situation had to be carefully evaluated and a response provider contracted. This was done at the regulator’s expense because the source of the oil spill has not yet been identified.

“We couldn’t afford to wait until we had actually located the responsible source, so we immediately took the responsibility.”

Transport Malta contracted Cassar Ship Repair to clean up the oil with the regulator’s officers monitoring and supervising the operation.

Oil Tanking also assisted in the operation by booming the contaminated area within their terminal to contain the oil that was eventually recovered. The oil, which was still floating, was recovered by the use of absorbents. Tar balls were removed manually.

Areas affected included St George’s Bay (Alfresco area), the coastline between Enemalta’s 31st March Pier and the waterpolo pitch, Pretty Bay, the Freeport terminals and the Oil Tanking terminal basin.

“Given the weather conditions at the time, it is very probable that the oil drifted in from outside the harbour. By the time the first report was made, the oil was already emulsified, a fact which indicates it was approximately 12 hours old,” the spokesman said.

Aldo Drago, head of the University’s Physical Oceanography Unit, said the oil spill could have originated from a spot between Sicily and Malta.

A look at the map of sea surface currents on Tuesday, measured by the HF radar, showed that hypothetically, a spill in the middle of the Malta channel would have easily drifted southwards and then closer to shore by currents outside Marsaxlokk bay. The wind was predominantly from east and east-southeast, meaning it would have forced any oil drifting in open waters into the port.

However, a local origin of the spill from some bunkering activity outside the port could not be excluded, he said.

“The state of emulsification and deterioration of the oil could possibly give a clue to its time of origin and, hence, to the possible location of its source,” he added.

Transport Malta has access to CleanSeaNet, a European satellite-based oil spill detection service. However, a small oil spill would not easily show up on satellite images, Prof. Drago pointed out.

He and his team also developed an oil spill model, which would predict the evolution of a spill approaching Malta and give indications on where it will hit, at what time and at which concentration.

“But the oil spill needs to be detected first. Small oil spills are quite difficult to detect.”

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