10% of oil slick left at Thai beach

The oil spill cleanup operation at touristic sandy beach of eastern Thailand is progressing, with about 10 percent of the slick is left on the beach, the oil company claim. The Phrao Bay beach, of Samet island in eastern province of Rayong, heavily affected by the oil leak from the PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) offshore pipeline, was returning to normal on Thursday morning as most of the oil slick has been removed from the beach and the sea is a low tide. White sandy beach started to be seen on Thursday, although about 10 percent are still covered by oil slick. The oil leak from an offshore pipeline, about 35 km from the beach, reached the bay on Sunday night. PTTGC President Baworn Vongsinudom said the company met with agencies concerned and proposed to using PTTGC , Marine Department and Royal Thai Navy vessels to clean the oil slick from the shoreline rocks as fast as possible. He asserted there would be no use of chemical or biological substances to disperse the oil spill at the beach, as fear by environmentalists. Meanwhile, Ministry of Tourism and Sports will meet tourism operators at Samet island to discuss measures to revive the island 's tourism business and restore tourist confidence. The spill took place early Saturday about 20 km southeast of the Map Ta Phut seaport in Rayong and 35 km from touristic Samet island. Crude oil from an Omani tanker offshore was being transferred to a pipeline, operated by PTT Global Chemistry Plc (PTTGC for a refinery when a leakage was detected. About 50 tonnes, or 50,000 liters of oil was poured into the sea. More than 500 staff from PTTGC and Thai Navy and have been working continuously for more than 60 hours to clean the oil slick on picturesque sandy beach.