SINGAPORE – Nature can be man’s best friend in responding to man-made disasters like an oil spill.

Micro-organisms, which already clean up the oil naturally, can do an even better job of the task under certain conditions – specifically when the sand is less waterlogged and has more oxygen – according to newly released research.

This finding could help responders better understand the conditions that favour natural oil removal and come up with interventions to speed up oil spill clean-ups, said Professor Stephen Brian Pointing of the National University of Singapore, who led the research.

The research was published in August in a peer-reviewed journal, Environmental Science and Ecotechnology.

Over 90 days, microbes degraded 40 per cent of the oil in sand that was well-drained and rich in oxygen. But in waterlogged and oxygen-poor sand, that figure fell to 5 per cent over the same duration.

Oxygen is an important factor in determining how efficiently microbes break down oil, said Pointing. While bacteria can still degrade oil when oxygen is scarce, the process is far slower and less efficient.

Different types of bacteria take over depending on how much oxygen is available.

In oxygen-rich sand, certain bacteria – particularly those from a group called Alphaproteobacteria – use oxygen to rapidly break down oil. Meanwhile, in waterlogged and oxygen poor sand, other bacteria take over to degrade the oil, albeit less efficiently.

These findings stemmed from the team’s initial research in September 2025, prompted by one of Singapore’s worst oil spills. In June 2024, a dredging boat collided with a bunker vessel, releasing more than 400 tonnes of oil into the nation’s southern waters.

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