Oil leakage spreads to threaten eastern shores of Thailand

BANGKOK, July 29 (Xinhua)-- Oil spill caused by a pipeline leakage has spread to stain the eastern beachfronts of Thailand, raising fears that it would cause damage to tourism and fishery.

The oil slick reached Sunday night the Ao Phrao bay on the western side the Samet Island, a popular getaway for Thais and foreigners living in Bangkok. About 600 meters of the beachfront, which is frequented by holidaymakers, is now covered with sticky crude oil. A 20-30 cm-thick slick is floating some 20 meters from the beach. Tourists began to leave the area Monday morning.

Rayong governor Vichit Chatphaisit on Monday ordered agencies concerned to urgently clean up the beach and prevent the oil slick from spreading to other bays.

The spill took place early Saturday about 20km southeast of the Map Ta Phut seaport in Rayong. Crude oil from an Omani tanker moored offshore was being transferred to a pipeline, operated by PTT Global Chemistry Plc(PTTGC), for a refinery when a leakage was detected. About 50 tonnes, or 50,000 litres of oil was poured into the sea.

With assistance from the navy and other agencies, the company launched a clean-up mission to purge the oil slick, with a dozen of boats deployed to spray dispersants into the affect area.

It said Sunday that the oil slick had been contained and was unlikely to cause environmental damage, adding that it would continue monitoring the quality of seawater in the Gulf of Thailand.

However, Satit Pituthecha, a Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Rayong, lashed out against PTTGC on Monday for"hiding the truth". He claimed that the amount of oil spill was much more than the 50,000 liters that it claimed and it was a lie that the incident had been contained.

The incident had caused severe damage to Rayong's tourism and environment, which would take at least six months to recover, said the MP.

Meanwhile, fishermen in Rayong have demanded PTTGC to compensate them, saying that the fact that the company had merely applied chemicals to sink the leaked oil would cause long-term damage to the environment.

Ply Pirom, Greanpeace's Thailand programme manager, said the incident highlighted the fact that the Gulf of Thailand had been under threat from oil spills along oil transport routes, putting livelihoods and natural resources at risk.

He called on the government to end oil drilling and transportation in the gulf, which is also a major source of the nation's revenue from fisheries and tourism.

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