The head of PTT's oil slick clean-up team was driving back to Bangkok last Sunday evening from Rayong when he received a phone call he wasn't expecting.
CRUDE AWAKENING: Workers and volunteers help one another scoop oil liquid washed ashore at Ao Phrao beach on Samet Island in Rayong province. PHOTOS: SAYAN CHUENUDOMSAVAD
After determining the situation was under control following the spraying of dispersants from ships and a Singaporean plane, PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) president Bowon Vongsinudom had decided to head home and leave the monitoring of the situation to his staff and marine officials stationed in the area.
He had spent most of the last two days trying to minimise the damage from a crude oil spill 20km offshore, when a floating hose transferring oil from a tanker to a PTT refinery pipeline broke sending, PTT says, 50,000 litres of oil spewing into the coastal waters.
At 8pm on Sunday night Mr Bowon received a call from one of his staff informing him oil was washing on to Koh Samet's Ao Phrao beach in large quantities.
''We were puzzled where this oil was from,'' Mr Bowon told Spectrum. ''It is one of the puzzles that I cannot find the answers to yet. One is how the hose broke, and where this oil was from. It's a huge amount.''
The oil spill and the stain it has left on Thailand's world famous beaches and image as a pristine tourist destination has led to intense debate on PTT's handling of the crisis and the emergency plan it deployed.
There are also serious questions being asked by academics about the size of the oil spill due to the vast area it covers and the volume of dispersants sprayed on it, which is by some estimates six times the amount required to treat a 50,000 litre spill.
DRAMA UNFOLDS
Mr Bowon says he first learned of the accident between 6-7am on Saturday morning, but it was unclear when it happened. One of the tanker's two floating hoses connected to an underwater buoy, which is attached to a fixed pipeline to the PTT refinery, had broken. Despite earlier media reports, Mr Bowon said the breakaway coupling on the floating hose had not come loose. A source from the Marine Department, which PTT is required to report to on the accident, said the safety valves were closed manually.
The PTTGC chief said when the hose broke the safety system activated immediately and the only oil that was spilled was the amount contained in the floating hose.
Mr Bowon however could not confirm whether the valves were closed automatically or manually.
At a press conference on Thursday, PTT said that the valves had closed automatically and there was no time lag after the hose broke.
PTT estimates that only 50,000 litres of oil leaked into the the sea. This was calculated by the amount of oil believed to be in the 100m floating hose at the time of the accident.
As per standard procedures, a boom was in place when the oil transfer was underway but in this case it was of little use in stopping the spread of the oil in the sea.
Mr Bowon said PTT decided to use dispersants to clear the slick although he refused to say what type or the amount used. The Marine Department source said the dispersant Slickgone, composed mainly of paraffin and dioctyl sodium sulphosuccinate, was used.
On Saturday, PTT deployed 10 ships to help spray dispersant on the slick. The Marine Department source said they used about 120 200-litre tanks of dispersant _ about 24,000 litres in total.
On Sunday, Singapore-based clean-up company Oil Spill Response Ltd was called in. It deployed a plane that sprayed 12,000 litres of dispersant on the slick. The ratio for the spraying of the chemical to oil is 1:20, so the amount of the dispersant used was considered high.
Napa Wangkiat, of the Engineering Faculty of Rangsit University said the Pollution Control Department gave the company permission to use only 5,000 litres of dispersant.
''One litre of dispersant is used for 20 litres of oil spilled, so 5,000 litre should be enough for as much as 100,000 litres of oil spilled,'' Mr Napa said. ''However, the company report to the Stock Exchange of Thailand mentioned that 32,000 litres of dispersant was used in the clean up.
''The public does not know how the company used those chemicals. Did they mix it with water or other substances to make such a high volume?''
PTT says the dispersant works by breaking down oil globules which are then ''digested'' by bacteria. The process takes one to two weeks to complete.
Mr Bowon said as the oil slick spread, the ships followed its trail and kept spraying dispersant. The plane from Singapore took over the task at 3pm on Sunday. It informed PTT that the slick had only spread to one area which it sprayed until it was covered.
Mr Bowon said they believed the initial stage of the clean-up had been completed as the sprayed areas started to turn brown, an indication they were reacting to the dispersant. He asked the plane to double check the area and they replied that everything was okay.
Their biggest fear _ that based on tides and weather modelling maps the slick would hit Koh Samet _ appeared unfounded.
It was early on Sunday evening and PTT staff and Marine Department had checked both ends of the island and believed the battle had been won, but the victory would only last a few hours.
DARKNESS APPROACHES
Mr Bowon didn't get to go home. When Spectrum visited Ao Phrao beach on Wednesday he was there observing the clean-up operation involving dozens of PTT staff, the ugly gloop from the oil splattering their white bio suits and rubber boots.
''At this point, I cannot say it is impossible that there will not be oil washed ashore,'' he said. ''We will keep monitoring it and that is the only thing we can do.''
An oil extracting machine, which clears oil from the beach, is still pumping away and white sand has re-emerged in places. But as the morning tides came in so do sheets of oil and the water in front of Ao Phrao turns a dirty brown in contrast with the sparkling green sea further off shore.
Mr Bowon is proud of the efforts of his workers who have used paper sheets to mop up the oil. So far they have managed to scoop up enough to fill 80 one-cubic metre tanks. Hundreds of enlisted men and women from the Sattahip naval base have also lent a hand.
He says he still has no idea where the oil came from and believes that oil globules, which were broken up by the dispersant, were picked up and ''packed together'' by sea waves.
But another PTTGC executive Spectrum spoke to on condition of anonymity was adamant the procedures they had deployed during the clean-up were correct and successful.
He said using booms to contain the spill near the tanker would not have worked as they would have been scattered by the rough seas so they mainly relied on the use of dispersants. As the oil was spilled in water 20m deep PTTGC considered it safe to use the chemicals. However, the official added that not all the oil may have been broken up and a ''small amount'' could be what had landed on Ao Phrao.
He said the environmental impact was minimal and according to their monitoring the water quality was already improving.
Pakorn Prasertwong, chief of the Environment Division of the Marine Department, who has helped in the operation, said the company had tried its best to follow its 100-page emergency plan.
He agreed with Mr Bowon that some of the oil molecules may have been ''packed again'' and washed ashore in the calmer waters off Ao Phrao. He said the type of dispersant used was approved by the government but the amount used was questionable.
''Considering the conditions they had, I think they did what the theory required,'' he said.
Satellite images from the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) show that the initial size of the spill covered a large area, but has now reduced to a quarter of that size.
On July 27 the oil slick covered an area of 19 square kilometres and was moving east. But by Thursday it covered an area of five square kilometres.
SLIPPERY DIPS
Associate professor Siwat Pongniumchan from the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) believes PTTGC and government agencies involved in the mop-up are hiding the truth.
Mr Siwat, who heads Nida's research and development centre and management of disaster, questions not only the amount of oil spilled, but also the long-term environmental impact of chemical dispersants.
He said he agreed with other academics, such as Somporn Chuai-aree of Prince Songkhla University, who believed a far greater amount of oil was spilled than indicated by the oil giant.
Mr Somporn said based on his analysis of the GISTDA satellite images from the beginning of the accident the likely amount of oil spilled was as low as 108,000 litres or as high as 190,000 litres.
Mr Siwat urged the government to establish an independent panel to investigate not only the cause of the accident, but also the volume of the spills and the clean-up process which he believes will have long-term impact on the marine and coastal ecosystem.
He also pointed out that the volume of an oil spill had an impact on any fine and the amount of compensation paid.
''A report of a small amount of oil spilled may help the company receive lower fines,'' he said. ''But don't forget that the incident occurred only 20km from the shore, the impact on people and natural resources is tremendous.''
Mr Siwat noted that the Australian unit of PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) admitted to four charges over the 2009 Montara oil spill, 250km off Australia's northwestern coast. Thousands of barrels of oil gushed into the ocean over a 10-week period following a blowout at PTTEP Australasia's West Atlas rig in the Timor Sea, with the slick spreading as far as Indonesian waters and environmentalists claiming it grew to almost 90,000 square kilometres.
The company estimated the clean-up cost at A$40-$50 million, and the Darwin Magistrates Court fined it $510,000 last September.
Mr Siwat said despite numerous oil spills involving the company, PTT invested little in clean-up equipment.
The Eco Marine company in conjunction with the Thailand Institute of Science and Technology Research had developed an environmentally friendly substance called Keeen, which has for four years been used to treat oil spills in the south, especially in shallow water mangrove areas.
A spokesman for the company said there was no guarantee chemical dispersants would work.
''The chemical dispersant may make the oil spill vanish from sight, but it doesn't go anywhere, it just remains under water for a long period of time,'' said a representative from the company.
He said there was a possibility that oil particles could be washed up onto beaches by the tides.
Trin Varuwanich, chairman of the Oil Industry Environment Safety Group Association (IESG) said they had had no request to help, but were on standby to do so if PTT asked them.
''We discussed the matter with the company from the first day of the incident,'' Mr Trin said. ''The company said the problem is not that big and can be handled by the company and its partner from Singapore.''
PTT and 16 other oil companies are members of the association that has equipment to clean up oil spills and regularly organises training drills.
''We moved some equipment from the warehouse in Si Racha in Chon Buri province to Rayong so that the PTTGC can use when necessary,'' he said.
Under a 1998 national plan on oil spills, the IESG has responsibility for oil spill clean-ups along with the other government agencies, including the Harbour Department, the Royal Thai Navy and the provincial authorities.
The Pollution Control Department, an agency under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, is responsible for providing information to the operating team on where the oil spill is heading and other information to support the clean up work.
But the joint operation is only activated when the volume of the oil spill is deemed large, for example more than 100,000 litres.
''Most oil companies have their contracts with companies on oil spill clean up work. However, they can ask for help from the association if they want or if the scale of the problem is large, the clean up operations be conducted under the national plan,'' Mr Trin he said.
According to the Pollution Control Department report, the national plan was activated in several cases when the amount of oil spill was as high as 160,000 litres.
Mr Trin suggest that the national plan needs to be reviewed due to increase in oil industries with higher risk of oil accidents.
MAKESHIFT STORAGE: Tanks collecting oil scooped from Ao Phrao are temporarily kept in school grounds on the island.
DIRTY WORK: Workers and volunteers lay absorbent paper sheets on the sand to mop up the oil on washed ashore at Ao Phrao.
SUCKING UP THE SPILL: Workers and volunteers on the the beach at Ao Phrao on Koh Samet use vacuum machines to draw oil into tanks. PHOTOS: SAYAN CHUENUDOMSAVAD
The bulk of the oil spill incidents in the 1970s were the result of ship collisions, mainly due to poor navigation systems or incompetence. Since the early 1990s, however, these navigation difficulties have mostly been ironed out and the majority of spills since have resulted from technical problems during the transfer and transportation of oil. Thailand's major recent oil spills are listed below.
1. WHEN: April 10, 1973
WHERE: Chao Phraya river mouth
HOW MUCH: 1.6 million litres
CAUSE: Ship collision
2. WHEN: May 29, 1977
WHERE: Chao Phraya river mouth
HOW MUCH: 240,000 litres
CAUSE: Ship collision
3. WHEN: 1979
WHERE: Off Koh Sri Chang,
Chon Buri
HOW MUCH: 240,000 litres
CAUSE: Container ship fire
4. WHEN: March 6, 1994
WHERE: Off Koh Sri Chang,
Chon Buri
HOW MUCH: 400,000 litres
CAUSE: Ship collision
5. WHEN: anuary 16, 1996
WHERE: Chao Phraya river mouth, Samut Prakan
HOW MUCH: 160,000 litres
CAUSE: Ship collision
6. WHEN: October 30, 1996
WHERE: Map Ta Phut industrial estate, Rayong
HOW MUCH: 152,000 litres
CAUSE: Container ship collision
7. WHEN: May 22, 2001
WHERE: Map Ta Phut industrial estate, Rayong
HOW MUCH: 24,000 litres
CAUSE: Container ship collision
8. WHEN: January 15, 2002
WHERE: Off Koh Juang, Chon Buri
HOW MUCH: 187,200 litres
CAUSE: Ship collision
9. WHEN: December 17, 2002
WHERE: Laem Chabang port,
Chon Buri
HOW MUCH: 168,000 litres
CAUSE: Ship collision
10. WHEN: October 6, 2007
WHERE: Chevron's Trident-16 (Offshore Mobile Drilling Unit), Gulf of Thailand
HOW MUCH: 26,400 litres
CAUSE: Storage tank leak
11. WHEN: December 9, 2007
WHERE: Songkhla's Sating Phra district
HOW MUCH: 20,000 litres
CAUSE: Shipwreck
12.WHEN: June 15, 2008
WHERE: Chao Phraya river, Samut Prakan
HOW MUCH: 40,000 litres
CAUSE: Ship collision.
13. WHEN: September 4, 2011
WHERE: Phuket's west coast
HOW MUCH: 40,000 litres
CAUSE: Ship caught in bad weather
The Pollution Control Department classifies oil spills into three different tiers of severity and outlines standard response measures to each.
TIER 1
Any oil spill not exceeding 20 litres. This type of spill normally occurs due to minor leaks while oil is being transferred between storage depots and ships. The company which spilled the oil will be solely responsible for the clean-up, but can request help if necessary. The Marine Department must be notified of any such spill.
TIER 2
Any oil spill between 20 to 1,000 litres. This type of spill normally occurs from minor collisions or other accidents between ships. The government and private sectors must work together to clean up such a spill. The Marine Department must be notified immediately, and foreign help may be sought if the situation gets out of control.
TIER 3
Any oil spill exceeding 1,000 litres. This type of spill normally occurs from serious ship collisions and pipeline or storage tank leaks. Foreign assistance is usually necessary.
