Case filed against PTTGC

The department’s strategic move is aimed at preventing the public company from not taking responsibility to clean the oil spill and pay compensation, which could potentially amount to Bt2.3 billion for local tourism sector and Bt5.4 million daily loss suffered by the fishing sector.
Sorrrasak Saensombat, director-general of the department, said the total damage from the stains and the loss in revenue for the tourism, business and fishery industries had not been included in the suit, pending estimates from aggrieved parties. It is not yet known through which legal channel the suit will be processed – administrative, civil or environmental – after the complaint was lodged with a local police station in Rayong.
He said the severity of the leak was at the intermediate Level 2, which requires state intervention in the salvage operation and clean-up. Level 3 is for the heaviest damage, which needs foreign-supported salvaging operations, and Level 1 is for moderate leakage, which can be salvaged by the private sector.
Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt called the first meeting of a national body tasked with dealing with an oil spill or recovery, three days after the oil leak was reported on Saturday morning.
The little-known Prevention and Elimination of Marine Pollution Caused by Oil Spill committee under the PM’s Office was formed in 1995 with the transport minister as its chair and the director-general of the Marine Department as its secretary.
Sorrrasak said the oil slick has reached the Rayong coast while the thick crude oil that has dirtied Ao Phrao has been contained.
The bay, popular with tourists, would be cleaned almost completely within a few days, and the black globules could be removed from the beach and sea within a week.
PTTGC president Bowon Vongsinudom said the spill that was spreading into the sea had already been stopped and that the recovery process would be initiated as soon as possible.
“The oil film spreading across the sea near Rayong’s Samet Island will be naturally destroyed by bacteria within two weeks,” he added.
After completing the clean-up, a third-party assessor would be deployed to estimate the environmental damage and lay out recovery plans.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is on an overseas trip, has ordered a systematic response to cope with the oil leak. Minister of Energy Pongsak Ruktapongpisa said all parties affected by the leak would be compensated.
He said he preferred to see negotiations between both parties rather than lawsuits in terms of compensatory payments, because the PTTGC was willing to make immediate amends, while the lawsuits would take time.

Chairat Trirattanajarasporn, head of Rayong Tourism Association, said the local tourism industry had lost about one-fifth of its annual revenue of Bt16 billion, or about Bt3.2 billion so far, while a group of fishermen said they were losing Bt5.4 million in daily revenue.
Most room reservations have been cancelled even though Phrao Bay makes up only 5 per cent of the island’s entire area.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri told the Cabinet meeting that PTT, of which PTTGC is a group company, was covered by a Bt1.5-billion insurance policy and could use the payout to help defray the damage.