Review of Petrochemical Companies' Governance Processes after Recent Case of Theft of Fuel from Pulau Bukom

17 Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Home Affairs with regard to the recent theft of large quantities of fuel from Pulau Bukom (a) whether the petrochemical companies' security and governance processes require tightening, especially in sensitive areas, such as Pulau Bukom and Jurong Island; and (b) how is the Ministry working with the petrochemical companies to ensure that hazardous and flammable materials do not fall into the wrong hands.

The Second Minister for Home Affairs (Mrs Josephine Teo) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, Police's investigation is ongoing and it will be inappropriate for me to comment on it.

Generally, petrochemical companies which store large amounts of petroleum and flammable materials must obtain a licence from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

The licence is renewed annually and applicants must put in place security measures to prevent unauthorised access to, and unauthorised activities involving the petroleum and flammable materials. Licences that involve volatile petroleum and flammable materials are deemed to be of higher risk and are subjected to site inspections to assess the adequacy of their physical security measures. These include companies on Pulau Bukom and Jurong Island.

Licensees are also required to immediately notify the SCDF of any loss or theft of petroleum and flammable materials from their premises and put in place measures to prevent recurrence. Beyond physical security measures, companies storing petroleum and flammable materials have a duty to establish robust internal governance and oversight to safeguard their petroleum and flammable materials.

The Police and SCDF will continue to engage these companies through regular platforms, like the Jurong Island Safety and Security Watch Group, to share best practices, trends and lessons from past incidents.

Mr Speaker: Mr Desmond Choo.

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Mr Speaker, I thank the Second Minister for her comprehensive reply. Just a couple of clarifications.

First, understandable that while investigations are ongoing, the Minister could not share more, but is there any reason to believe that the processes have not been thorough on the part of the companies that require the Police to enhance and tighten those processes?

Secondly, because of the large quantities that had been stolen, are there any reasons to believe that any other companies will require similar tightening processes?

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Speaker, I shared earlier in my response that the licensees are regularly inspected. In the case of Shell Bukom, they were, in fact, last inspected in December 2017. At that time, they were found to have met with the compliance requirements of the licensing conditions.

The matter is before the Courts, so I cannot say very much more, except that the investigations seek to reveal how the thefts occurred, and this may or may not have anything to do with the adequacy of the security measures. So, the best thing for us to do is to let the Police complete their work and then we can have a meaningful discussion on what more can be done to prevent such recurrence.