Probe panel says materials-related factors caused oil spill

The leak was possibly caused during a transfer of crude oil, at 6.30am on July 27, at an underwater 16-inch (40.6-centimetre) flexible pipe section, a sixth of which has shelter. A storm gust destabilised a tanker that was receiving the crude oil from the outtake pipe, leading to a disconnection of the pipe from the vessel’s intake hose, said Khunying Thongtip Ratanarat, the head of an investigation committee looking into the incident.

PTTGC chairman Prasert Bunsumpun said all flexible pipes used had a service life of 10 years, which had been reduced to six years under company’s safety regulations to ensure greater durability. The sixth pipe section that broke had been used for less than a year. “This accident occurred without PTTGC’s standard operation involved as a cause,” he said.

A total of 54,341 litres of crude oil spilled. Of the 42,568 litres that leaked, 37,542 litres were later neutralised with dispersant chemicals. There is a leftover amount of 11,773 litres that reached and stained Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samet, said Thongtip, an expert on the petrochemical industry.

Customs red tape caused a nine-hour delay in securing a dispersant, which was later loaded into a Singapore-based aircraft that sprayed the chemical on the affected sea surface. 

A five-person committee of experts had been set up to study why the flexible pipe broke prematurely, and report to Thongtip’s committee in one month’s time.

Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal proposed that all oil companies operating in Thailand mobilise a fund to buy two aircraft for time-sensitive dealing with any future oil spills.

 

Plodprasop slams report delay

Meanwhile, National Environment Board chairman Plodprasop Suraswadi yesterday slammed the chief of the Pollution Control Department over a “delayed” report that found high levels of mercury contamination in seawater surrounding the two oil-spill affected coastal areas of Rayong province’s Koh Samet.

Plodprasop, who is also a deputy prime minister, criticised PCD director-general Wichien Jungrungruang during a two-hour meeting of the board’s committee at Government House. The committee discussed the recovery plan for the damaged environment and marine ecosystem caused by the recent oil spill in Koh Samet’s Ao Phrao and nearby areas.

Plodprasop, who last week visited Ao Phrao and enjoined the public to swim in the seawater there, blamed Wichien over the release of the test result of hazardous substances caused by the oil spill. The tests showed that the level of mercury in the seawater samples collected on August 3 exceeded the standard, which says it should not be higher than 0.1 microgram per litre. The level of mercury at Ao Phrao recorded 2.9 micrograms per litre and at Ao Tub Tim in the east 0.25 microgram per litre.