Blast At Bangkok Oil Refinery Triggers Huge Blaze

[pointoffew]

More than 5 hours after the incident, this news is yet to "break" on BP online. Isn't that sad, very, very sad. Is it a newspaper, or just a platform for we all know who.

[TackyToo]

Such news breaks four and a half hours after the incident?

And how should I read this "the blast was about 500 meters from the scene"?!

Maybe they forgot editing the sentence: "the blast was about 5 meters from the scene as where some workers had their breakfast BBQ"?

I'm also a little confused about the quote a firefighter made on TV: "There is not much oil so people should not panic," while three lines later you read: 120,000 barrels of oil are processed at the site every day.

Edited July 4, 2012 by TackyToo

[Xonax]

More than 5 hours after the incident, this news is yet to "break" on BP online. Isn't that sad, very, very sad. Is it a newspaper, or just a platform for we all know who.

NOT true. I read it on BP online several hours ago!

[Gweiloman]

Good work fire team.

However, 2 explosions there in 18 months? This must be a major point of concern for the whole of Bangkok because one accident like this in the life of a facility like Bangchek is really not acceptable; 2 in 18 months shows there are endemic problems there. No way I would want to live in that vicinity until a western HSE engineering firm has been through it and all the recommendations have been up taken, and passed as up to scratch by an independent (non local) audit. Wouldn't trust anything else in this country.

I agree. from murders to exlposions and electrical-causing-fatalities...how inept can one possibly become? Time to clean-up this country, but fast. It seems that westerners have to do everything, just to set things at a decent level safety and/or operation.

With such arrogance, he condescends to live in this backward country.

Edited July 4, 2012 by metisdead
: 30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[Ianatlarge]

As I said about the bus crash in Surat, "farang" countries have disasters and disastrous safe incidents from time to time. Look at Syndy, Aust and BP shutting the city down for months due to bad maintenance and ignoring staff. The Gulf of Mexico, ETC. Lets not tar Thailand and ignore every other frakup in history.

[Xonax]

Such news breaks four and a half hours after the incident?

Buy a TV set. It was on Channel 3 less than 10 minutes after the blast.

If you lived close enough to hear the blast and see the smoke, you would probably have turned on the TV as I did.

[PattayaParent]

They need to move this refinery outside Bkk and tighten up on safety

No need to move it, they already have enough refineries outside of Bangkok.

[PattayaParent]

As I said about the bus crash in Surat, "farang" countries have disasters and disastrous safe incidents from time to time. Look at Syndy, Aust and BP shutting the city down for months due to bad maintenance and ignoring staff. The Gulf of Mexico, ETC. Lets not tar Thailand and ignore every other frakup in history.

[julemanden]

Time to build a nuclear power plant. Not.

NOT !!!

[TomTao]

Well done fire crews, good that there were no casualties or deaths, I'll be waiting to see what the acual cause of the fire was rather than the armchair expert diagnosis.

[PhilipCook]

Maybe its a good time for the government/PTT to move this place and the tank farm in Rama 3 area out of the city to a 'safer' location. Imagine the money they would generate from the sale of the land for developers to create a low rise urban friendly area of Bangkok.

[overherebc]

Maybe its a good time for the government/PTT to move this place and the tank farm in Rama 3 area out of the city to a 'safer' location. Imagine the money they would generate from the sale of the land for developers to create a low rise urban friendly area of Bangkok.

Buy a house on contaminated land.

Not a good idea

[techboy]

Such news breaks four and a half hours after the incident?

And how should I read this "the blast was about 500 meters from the scene"?!

How should you read this? Can you read? It was written awkwardly but not a verbal rubiks cube to understand that the reporter was 500 meters from the scene. There is no mention of when the story actually broke through local media- Only webfact that we see here at 9:02am (one and a half hours-not four and a half in any case). Best to brush up on your arithmatic skills as well as verbal.

[Time Traveller]

They need to move this refinery outside Bkk and tighten up on safety

A refinery with capacity of 120,000 barrels per day would cost almost to $1billion (30 billion baht) to build.

Are you going to lend the company this money to rebuild, or just pass on your special engineering knowledge about how you can physically move a refinery?

[techboy]

Time to build a nuclear power plant. Not.

HAHAHAHHAHAHA

A Thai nuke plant..... run for the ***ing hills!

Run by cheap burmese labourers paid $1 a day. No farang nuculear scientists allowed to be employed for the sake of saving face

HAHAHAHHAHAHA is right!!! Getting a little ahead of yourselves in yur Thai bashing, aren't you boys? I mean like as far as I know there is no such thing as a nuclear powered oil refinery anyhow!

[MaiChai]

Good work fire team.

However, 2 explosions there in 18 months? This must be a major point of concern for the whole of Bangkok because one accident like this in the life of a facility like Bangchek is really not acceptable; 2 in 18 months shows there are endemic problems there. No way I would want to live in that vicinity until a western HSE engineering firm has been through it and all the recommendations have been up taken, and passed as up to scratch by an independent (non local) audit. Wouldn't trust anything else in this country.

I agree. from murders to exlposions and electrical-causing-fatalities...how inept can one possibly become? Time to clean-up this country, but fast. It seems that westerners have to do everything, just to set things at a decent level safety and/or operation.

It all comes down to education. Low level of education is the root of alot of the 'issues' in Thailand. The other problem is that no one appears to see the root of all the 'issues' is lack of education, and whats even more worrying is no one seems to want to do anything about it. Hate to grumble, but...

I live next to a huge refinery in the UK, and issues like this never happen. Mai pen rai attitudes?

I worked for a UK oil company once and safety was their number one. Leaving a pair of scissors 'open' around the office would cause the admin folks to give you dirty looks of disapproval! Coffees were not to be carried across the office without lids, etc.

Edited July 4, 2012 by MaiChai

[Lite Beer]

REFINING

PTT assures consistent supply despite Bangchank's blaze

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- PTT Plc stands ready to supply more oil products to the market, following blaze at Bangchak Petroleum's refinery complex which led to the 30-day suspension.

Nattachart Charuchinda, chief officer for PTT’s downstream petroleum business, said that the suspension would lead to a cut in supply, as Bangchak’s refinery operates with the daily capacity of 100,000 barrels. "We stand ready to find substitution," he said.

Today morning, PTT assigned 18 officers to to assist Bangchak’s fire extinguishing team, with 7,000 litres of water and foam.

Bangchak is a business unit under PTT.

In January, 2011, the refinery complex in Soi Sukhumvit 64 also caught fire. The fire broke out at a diesel production unit with a capacity of 25,000 barrels per day.

Given that Soi Sukhumvit 64 is a populated area, fires at the complex have sparked talks on relocation. Officials have mixed views on this, given that Bangchak just recently invested billions of baht to upgrade the complex.

Bangchak said in a statement that the fire was contained and there was no injury caused.

Energy Minister Arak Chonlatanon is scheduled for a press conference at 2pm today.

-- The Nation 2012-07-04

[TommyDee]

Good work fire team.

However, 2 explosions there in 18 months? This must be a major point of concern for the whole of Bangkok because one accident like this in the life of a facility like Bangchek is really not acceptable; 2 in 18 months shows there are endemic problems there. No way I would want to live in that vicinity until a western HSE engineering firm has been through it and all the recommendations have been up taken, and passed as up to scratch by an independent (non local) audit. Wouldn't trust anything else in this country.

I agree. from murders to exlposions and electrical-causing-fatalities...how inept can one possibly become? Time to clean-up this country, but fast. It seems that westerners have to do everything, just to set things at a decent level safety and/or operation.

It all comes down to education. Low level of education is the root of alot of the 'issues' in Thailand. The other problem is that no one appears to see the root of all the 'issues' is lack of education, and whats even more worrying is no one seems to want to do anything about it. Hate to grumble, but...

I live next to a huge refinery in the UK, and issues like this never happen. Mai pen rai attitudes?

you must have missed the one at Hemel hempstead a few years ago, massive explosion,s local homes destroyed and shortage of heating fuel for the whole region in the winter.

[Pseudolus]

I have been waiting for this to happen on the offshore platforms(which will happen for sure)...How will they bring that under control???? Some may remember ALPHA Platform in the north sea....it's only a matter of time.

most of the drilling out there is in Chevron hands (200+ wells a year) and they do all the checking; shouldn't happen as the Thai corrupt "black money will make that not my responsibility" attitude is not allowed interfere with HSE coupled with Western rig owners and contractors. As PTTEP move more towards trying to do it themselves on one of uncle Somchai's fleet of home made Russian rigs, they'll be in trouble.

I agree. from murders to exlposions and electrical-causing-fatalities...how inept can one possibly become? Time to clean-up this country, but fast. It seems that westerners have to do everything, just to set things at a decent level safety and/or operation.

With such arrogance, he condescends to live in this backward country.

It's not arrogance in this occasion. It's a fact. Lots of multinationals use the place, and these incidents happen in the Thai area. The mai mee and not my responsibility attitude is what causes this.

[Thaifever]

Funny, I was just wondering about what would happen if they found the matches.

[msg362]

Good work fire team.

However, 2 explosions there in 18 months? This must be a major point of concern for the whole of Bangkok because one accident like this in the life of a facility like Bangchek is really not acceptable; 2 in 18 months shows there are endemic problems there. No way I would want to live in that vicinity until a western HSE engineering firm has been through it and all the recommendations have been up taken, and passed as up to scratch by an independent (non local) audit. Wouldn't trust anything else in this country.

Agree!

[draftvader]

Time to build a nuclear power plant. Not.

HAHAHAHHAHAHA

A Thai nuke plant..... run for the ***ing hills!

Run by cheap burmese labourers paid $1 a day. No farang nuculear scientists allowed to be employed for the sake of saving face

"My brother is a nuclear scientist..."

[Fatherfluffybottom]

Well done fire team

[johnyb]

whe now that maintenance will be done after somthing collapse,thats the regular maintenance in thailand.

[Thai at Heart]

Flange leak according to head fire guy at sprc

[travelmann]

Those men are real heroes. Risking life and limbs for us. Keep up the good work !

They aren't heroes. They are just doing their jobs. If they refused they would be fired.

You mean relocated surely??

[Gonzo the Face]

Time to build a nuclear power plant. Not.

HAHAHAHHAHAHA

A Thai nuke plant..... run for the ***ing hills!

Run by cheap burmese labourers paid $1 a day. No farang nuculear scientists allowed to be employed for the sake of saving face

"My brother is a nuclear scientist..."

Billy Carter is that really you>>>>>????

[GamLing]

I live next to a huge refinery in the UK, and issues like this never happen. Mai pen rai attitudes?

Are you saying that you've never heard of Milford Haven or Flixboro? People died in these incidents.

[webfact]

BANGCHAK FIRE

Pollution Control Dept monitoring air around oil refinery, warns of possible contamination

The Nation

Photo : Courtesy of a Charity Foundation

BANGKOK: -- The Pollution Control Department has sent an emergency team to the site near Bangchak oil refinery on Sukhumvit 64 to examine the air quality following the explosion and fire at the refinery early on Wednesday morning.

The department's director general Wichien Jungrungrueng said the team is equipped with an air-quality examination mobile vehicle to collect air samples for testing out of concern that the air could possibly be contaminated with substances that can cause cancer.

As the explosion and blaze occurred at the refinery's pipeline, toxic substances from benzene and as a result of the burning could spread into the air and water, he said.

A separate team would also collect water samples from the area, he added.

A fire at the Bangchak oil refinery broke out on Wednesday morning at about 7am following an explosion, sending thick smoke into the air that could be seen across the capital.

About 100 families in nearby communities were alerted to the situation and were told to be prepared for evacuation if needed. However, the situation was quickly brought under control and no evacuation order was issued.

Phrakanong Pittayalai school, about a kilometre from the refinery, suspended classes and sent their students home.

The refinery will be closed for 30 days pending investigation.

-- The Nation 2012-07-04

[FarangKenStine]

Those men are real heroes. Risking life and limbs for us. Keep up the good work !

They aren't heroes. They are just doing their jobs. If they refused they would be fired.

Don't you think that they need to have something special to do this job? Something that most of us don't have? Something that makes them a kind of....hero?

No. But they should be physically fit. Don't think firefighter jobs are listed under the "Heroes Wanted" column