"Oil Spill"

More than 200 people gathered at Mae Ram Phueng Beach in Rayong province on Friday to demand compensation for the January 25 oil spill.

Police have retrieved undersea pipes belonging to Star Petroleum Refining Plc (SPRC) as they investigate one of Thailand’s worst environmental disasters in decades.

Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) is still struggling to seal two leaks in its undersea pipeline off Rayong, 49 days after it spewed more than 40,000 litres of oil into the Gulf of Thailand on January 25.

Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) on Tuesday paid 36 Koh Samet fishermen a compensation of 45,000 baht each for an oil spill in Rayong’s Phe subdistrict, a news source reported.

Fishery groups in Rayong province have angrily rejected a compensation offer made by Star Petroleum Refining Plc (SPRC) for damage caused by its oil spill.

Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) Plc and related agencies on Tuesday began operations to seal leakage in an undersea pipe in Rayong to prevent further impacts on the environment and communities nearby.

The operators of restaurants and beach beds and local fishermen at the Mae Ramphueng Beach on Wednesday gave Star Petroleum Refining Plc 15 days to agree to pay them compensation for damages they had suffered from the company’s oil leak incidents.

The Marine Department is confident that the implementation of a plan by the beleaguered Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) Plc to seal leaks in its undersea pipeline off Rayong and siphon 12,000 litres of oil off the pipe, will help prevent further leaks.

The Marine Department has approved Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC)’s plan to seal leaks in its undersea pipeline off Rayong, which still contains about 12,000 litres of oil.

Tests on fish from a Rayong market found with a black substance clogging their gills did not reveal unsafe levels of carcinogenic crude-oil compounds, according to health officials.

Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) alerted the Rayong Marine Department on Tuesday that it had found another leak in its underwater oil pipeline off the coast of Map Ta Phut in Rayong.

A team of Royal Thai Navy explorers and divers have been collecting samples of seawater, undersea soil, and beach sand off Rayong coast, adjacent to areas affected by a recent oil leak, for analyses.