SPRC distributes care packages among fishermen to make up for oil spill
Star Petroleum Refining Pcl (SPRC) on Thursday handed out 500 care packages to fishermen in Rayong who were affected by the oil leak late last month. This was part of its efforts to compensate affected local communities.
SPRC’s underwater pipeline at the single-point mooring (SPM) area about 20km southeast of Map Ta Phut Industrial Port sprung a leak on January 25, releasing some 160,000 litres of oil into the sea before it could be plugged. On January 29, Rayong’s Mae Ram Phueng Beach was declared a disaster zone after the oil washed ashore. Satellite images showed the slick had spread across 47 square kilometres of the Gulf of Thailand.
Since the incident, SPRC and relevant agencies including the Royal Thai Navy’s Marine Pollution Prevention and Mitigation Centre, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, the Marine Department, and Rayong locals have been working round the clock to clean up using absorbent sheets and chemical dispersants.
In an announcement on Thursday, SPRC said that apart from handing out care packages, it has also sent a team to study the progress in the elimination of the oil slick, as well as find out what problems local communities may have.
“The company has tied up with Rayong authorities to set up a complaint centre at Ban Sabai Sabai Resort. The centre is open daily from 9am to 3.30pm. People can also file complaints via the 1567 hotline,” the announcement said.
“So far the company has used 10 boats to deploy boom around the oil slick to stop it from floating toward the shoreline and has deployed some drones and a helicopter to monitor the slick’s movement in real-time so we can adjust the boom’s direction accordingly,” the announcement added. “More than 350 SPRC staff and volunteers have been patrolling the beaches daily to pick up trash and remove equipment used in the clean-up operation.”