Samet Island: Thailand oil spill spreads to other islands

August 1, 2013

As authorities race to clean up an oil spill that has washed up on the beach of one the Thailand’s popular islands, new news has been released that the spill has spread to other nearby islands as well.

On Saturday morning around 13,200 gallons of oil was spilled into the sea from a pipeline operated by PTT Global Chemical, a part of the state-owned oil and gas company, PTT Plc. The spill occurred when crude oil was being transferred from a tanker moored offshore to the pipeline where it would then be carried to the Map Ta Phut refinery.

The oil slick floated on the sea for a day before being washed up in Prao Bay on the small resort island of Samet on Sunday night as a black tide of crude oil. PTT immediately issued an apology and claimed that the mess would be cleaned up within three days.

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