Oil slick on Rayong beaches, eastern Thailand, cleared

RAYONG, July 28 (TNA) - PTT Global Chemical Public Co., Ltd. (PTTGC) said Sunday (Jul 28) it is able to clean up most of the oil slick found on Mae Ramphung Beach in the eastern province of Rayong, while villagers living in the area say the foul smell and the oil slick on the beach are almost vanished now. According to the company, the incident occurred early Saturday (Jul 27) after the leak occurred in its oil pipeline, about 20 kilometres southeast of Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate harbor. The company’s workers later used oil skimmers to clean up the oil spill found on Mae Ramphung Beach and other nearby beaches afterwards. Inspections were conducted early Sunday (Jul 28), while Sombat Chanpitak, owner of fishing trawler and also restaurant operator on Mea Ramphung Beach, said tourists could smell the oil after its leaking throughout yesterday (Jul 27) and he found out later that there was an oil spill in the middle of the sea. However, the smell and oil slick are no longer found this morning (Jul 28), said Mr. Sombat, adding that he believed the company and concerned agencies had helped in eradicating the oil slick. Clean-up operations began yesterday (Jul 27) evening when seven ships were deployed to spray oil-spill dispersants to clean up the slick on the sea surface. They were able to clean up about 70 per cent of the total slick. The operations continued early today (Jul 28) when Singapore-based Oil Spill Response Co., Ltd. sprayed oil-spill dispersants to help contain the oil leak. Oil Spill Response Co., Ltd. also dispatched environment experts to analyse and conduct a test on seawater where the slick was found to ensure that the leak was totally eliminated and no negative impact would happen to the sea. (TNA)