All-out bid to contain oil spill

[jacko45k]

If it blows west and north, perhaps Pattaya could become an even cruder place.

I shall get my coat!

[impulse]

Can anyone please explain the following for me. About 4 years ago i was looking for a certain beach in Rayong and couldn't find it but ended up instead on this beach. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a pipe pouring what looked like tons of oil onto the beach, it appears it was coming from a tanker offshore, I took 18 pictures and as I didn't know who to show them to I sent them to the local papers here in Pattaya and to the Bangkok Post. Never got as much as an acknowledgement from any of them?

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Looks like they were dredging the channel to make it deeper. All that mud (and those heavy metals and industrial waste) have to go somewhere, so they just pump it out to the other side of the sand berm.

Not really as dreadful as it looks at first glance.

[wdr]

You're kidding and really expected an answer?

[phuketsub]

working to keep it from the beaches, because if no one sees it then it didn't really happen

No you keep it off the beaches as it has less of an environmental impact if controlled at sea. Have you ever seen an oil spill on a beach? Sea birds get coated with the oil and die, fish and shellfish dying due to the pollution. The MO for controlling oil spill are the same the world over, Google BP's oil spill in the Gulf and look at the effect it had on coastal communities when the oil washed up onshore.

It is well established that clean-up at sea is also detrimental - the hemicals used are detrimental and the substances that get into the food chain in droplet form in suspension will eventually end up being consumed by other animals and ultimately US! there is also fallout from the suface and a lot of stuff ends up on the sea floor - coral etc being destroyed or otherwise affected.

This is a pretty black-and-white view. Petrochemicals float on water, especially saline-dense saltwater, although of course some fraction will dissolve (this is why time is of the essence). There are many examples where cleanup efforts have had a successful outcome and the technology is several decades old. The key is readiness and having a predesignated person with experience, necessary resources and authority to make decisions in real time to assess the situation and make command decisions based on a variety of complex factors: the size and nature of the spill, prevailing currents and tidal info, winds and, most importantly, the OVERALL effect on the environment -- not its potential to affect the tourism industry.

Sadly, the various agencies reported to be a part of the so-called 'cleanup' effort don't have a very promising track record in this regard.

[ratcatcher]

If it blows west and north, perhaps Pattaya could become an even cruder place.

I shall get my coat!

Well, Oil be seeing ya later then, have a good trip.

[ratcatcher]

Thailand know very well, how to destroy their environment.

In fact, even they do have all the technology and gadgets, they do not behave like a modern society.

More a little like stone age. But still pretending to be so smart.

Yes, Thailand, a terrible polluter? They have a lot to learn from the west.

A quick scan on here will show Thailand's notable absence, whereas the USA, bless her and all who sail in her, has a less than enviable record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills

I hope they manage to clean and contain this latest mishap quickly.

[dotpoom]

Thanks a lot Impulse.....It has been puzzleing me for the past 4 years...your reply explains it perfectly. This is what i seen (didn't show in my first post) when I first arrived on the beach, I couldn't understand how Oil (as i thought it was) was been dumped so openly. I come from a country where these things are usually done under the cover of darkness......if you get my drift.

[skorchio]

Any of you Aussies remember who was responsible for the last leak in Aus? It was PTT.

Having said that, their cleanup reaction was commendable. They were honest, diligent and most significantly, put all the necessary funds into the operation. But that because it was in Aus, and they would have been banned from operating there if the had not reacted accordingly.

Lets see what happens in the Gulf, where PTT have plenty of political clout.

[mjef]

It seems that the only thing they really care about is keeping it away from the beaches! What about the nature? It probably has killed millions of sea animals by now. They have to be punished for such a huge crime! Forget about the beaches!

[rbrooks]

I just heard that a certain flooding expert is on his way to Rayong with a fleet of boats than can push the oil out to sea.

Apparently, it's a modification of his untested plan to push flood waters out of Bangkok.

Hope he has lots of success with it...!

Let me guess, the BKK brigade prop job fleet out to push the oil back to sea?

[smileydude]

With all these oil spills that wreck havoc on nature maybe its a wake up call to get a little more serious on finding alternative forms of energy. Our dependence on oil is staggering considering how smart we humans are supposed to be. The Scandinavians seem to be leading the way in seeking alternative fuels ( even though they are can afford conventional fuel regardless of prices) since they seem to have more respect for mother nature and global/social responsibility, something severely lacking in Asia.

[NanLaew]

Accidents do happen and the subject matter is being dealt with effectively. Unfortunately, the current weather is making it highly likely that oil will end up on some beaches.

Other comments about sailing through oil slicks and the assumption it MUST be a pipeline leak thus they must happen all the time are totally inaccurate. When a ship illegally dumps it's bilges, the relatively diluted oily water mix does spread over a large area and looks and smells like a major leak. It is unfortunate that despite laws and regulations prohibiting this behaviour, it is very hard to enforce these laws. Because there's a concentration of large vessels in and out of Laem Chabang and Map Thaput, then there's an increased chance of sailing through these 'spills'.

PTT Global Chemical are a subsidiary of PTT and are oil refiners. They own and operate the loading boy (and possibly the sub-sea flowline) where this spill occurred. An explanation of what the loading buoys function is has been covered in one of the first posts. It's a point where a tanker can connect to a subsea pipeline, upload oil and take it ashore to be refined. So nothing to do with PTT distancing themselves from any liability.

Comments on the Montara spill offshore WA and Indonesia and their relevance to this domestic spill is a bit misguided. PTTEP (for Exploration & Production) is PTT's subsidiary for international exploration and production; a separate entity. The particular entity was PTTEP Australasia or PTTEPAA, which isn't the same PTT that operates domestically. Also note that the Australian Government did find fault with PTTEPAA's management with the observation that a key factor was the "failure of the operator and regulator to adhere to Australia’s oil and gas regulatory regime". The key here is the mention of their own regulatory authority as being partly responsible rather than saying it was all the Operator's fault.

[belg]

imagine all the thai beaches covered in a thick black layer of oil... guess thais would try to sell this one off as a natural spa treatment

[francescoassisi]

Do now it has hit the beach on Koh Samet

http://www.richardbarrow.com/2013/07/oil-slick-spreads-to-beach-on-koh-samet/

.

[ginjag]

Why not close this thread -then to concentrate on the main new one, posters are two-ing and fro-ing between the 2 topics that are really 1.

[francescoassisi]

Just as I suspected...looks as if PTT have been playing down the full extent of the spill.it's reach the mainland as well as Koh Samet.

[francescoassisi]

BTW - those who think that there is no problem at sea because "petrochemicals float" are very mistaken, especially after the use of dispersants which are in effect petrochemicals themselves - detergents etc. - the oil then forms a kind of emulsion I.e. droplets these don't just disappear, they either sink to the bottom or get invested by sea life and work their way up the food chain...towards us.

[Thai at Heart]

BTW - those who think that there is no problem at sea because "petrochemicals float" are very mistaken, especially after the use of dispersants which are in effect petrochemicals themselves - detergents etc. - the oil then forms a kind of emulsion I.e. droplets these don't just disappear, they either sink to the bottom or get invested by sea life and work their way up the food chain...towards us.

On shallow water, the droplets follow the same currents as the spill itself.

[metisdead]

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[wilcopops]

BTW - those who think that there is no problem at sea because "petrochemicals float" are very mistaken, especially after the use of dispersants which are in effect petrochemicals themselves - detergents etc. - the oil then forms a kind of emulsion I.e. droplets these don't just disappear, they either sink to the bottom or get invested by sea life and work their way up the food chain...towards us.

On shallow water, the droplets follow the same currents as the spill itself.

No a dreadful over simplification - please read up first. You sound like an apologist for an oil company

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

Can anyone please explain the following for me. About 4 years ago i was looking for a certain beach in Rayong and couldn't find it but ended up instead on this beach. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a pipe pouring what looked like tons of oil onto the beach, it appears it was coming from a tanker offshore, I took 18 pictures and as I didn't know who to show them to I sent them to the local papers here in Pattaya and to the Bangkok Post. Never got as much as an acknowledgement from any of them?

Image043.jpgImage048.jpg

nasty

[Thai at Heart]

BTW - those who think that there is no problem at sea because "petrochemicals float" are very mistaken, especially after the use of dispersants which are in effect petrochemicals themselves - detergents etc. - the oil then forms a kind of emulsion I.e. droplets these don't just disappear, they either sink to the bottom or get invested by sea life and work their way up the food chain...towards us.

On shallow water, the droplets follow the same currents as the spill itself.

No a dreadful over simplification - please read up first. You sound like an apologist for an oil company

I am not apologising at all. The dispersed oil, on shallow water like this will simply wash up in the main slick.

They need to skim it, boom it off and suck it up. Dispersing it on shallow water won't really stop it getting ashore

[francescoassisi]

BTW - those who think that there is no problem at sea because "petrochemicals float" are very mistaken, especially after the use of dispersants which are in effect petrochemicals themselves - detergents etc. - the oil then forms a kind of emulsion I.e. droplets these don't just disappear, they either sink to the bottom or get invested by sea life and work their way up the food chain...towards us.

On shallow water, the droplets follow the same currents as the spill itself.

No a dreadful over simplification - please read up first. You sound like an apologist for an oil company

I am not apologising at all. The dispersed oil, on shallow water like this will simply wash up in the main slick.

They need to skim it, boom it off and suck it up. Dispersing it on shallow water won't really stop it getting ashore

You speak like an employee who has been "educated" by an oil company . you don't seem aware of the full environmental impact of this spill and the clean up. Furthermore it has been reported that dispersants have already been used.you also don't seem aware of then long term behaviour of crude oil in water, the blanketing effects on life below and the relative effectiveness of sucking up or skimming - note the beach at Koh Same.