Star Petroleum announces compensation for Rayong oil spill
Star Petroleum Refining Plc (SPRC) has announced it will pay compensation to all those affected by the Rayong oil spill.
“The company will establish a complaint centre in association with Rayong authorities to accept complaints from people affected by the incident. We will make sure that appropriate compensation is provided in a timely manner,” said Sunday’s announcement. “The centre can be reached via telephone number 038-699-881.”
Earlier, Star Petroleum announced that an underwater pipe at its floating jetty about 20 kilometres southeast of Map Ta Phut port leaked at 8pm on Tuesday, spilling 160,000 litres of oil into the sea.
On Saturday, Rayong’s Mae Ram Phueng Beach was declared a disaster zone after oil from the spill washed ashore. Satellite images showed the slick had spread across 47 square kilometres of sea.
SPRC and the Royal Thai Navy’s Marine Pollution Prevention and Mitigation Centre are now battling to prevent the giant oil slick from engulfing Koh Samet, one of Thailand’s main holiday islands and rich in corals and marine life.
SPRC said it has deployed booms in a bid to protect Rayong’s shoreline from further damage and is using absorbent sheets and vacuum trucks to remove crude oil from the beach. It added that experts in oil slick elimination were supervising the clean-up operation.
“We are deeply sorry for the incident and insist that we will use our fullest ability to eliminate the oil slick under safety standard to limit the impact on marine environment and coastal communities,” said the announcement. “We will provide updates periodically until the situation returns to normal.”
SPRC also said that the company’s refinery was still operating as normal.
Greenpeace noted that Star Petroleum was responsible for a similar spill in 1997.