Some worrying news on the oil spill

The worrying news is that according to the MCOT online paper, PTTGC uses more chemicals than permitted to remove oil slick.

Thailand's Pollution Control Department head says that PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has used an amount of chemical dispersants to decompose the oil slick in the sea greater than the amount permitted by the agency.

Director general Wichien Jungrungruang said the company asked for permission to use 5,000 litres of the dispersant chemicals for the oil decomposition. Nonetheless, PTTGC recently announced that it has so far already used 32,000 litres of chemicals to decompose the oil spill.

5,000 liters for a 50 tonne spill is a ratio of about 10:1 which apparently is the recommended ratio for the chemicals used.

Using 32,000 liters indicates that there's a much larger oil spill to deal with then is published or acknowledged so far. It's a big carpet where this can be swept under!

Toxic matter 'may enter food chain in 3 months' as the 'The Nation' reports and the PCD is to probe heavy metal content in the sea.

Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samed

The same source also claims that the oil slick has caused 100 million THB damage on Koh Samed.

The anti oil rig movement on the Samui archipelago seems to get new power due this oil spill, although I'm afraid that it won't be able to avoid the new and planned oil platforms in front of Koh Samui to be build or taken into service.

Good news is that Richard Barrow, a blogger who writes lots about Thailand, has visited the East side of Koh Samed and his findings show pristine white beaches and no oil on that side of the island.

If you made it this far into my post, be assured that there is no oil on Koh Samui beaches! Up until this moment, the oil spill has been in a very different area then the Koh Samui archipelago!

Aerial shots also have shown that the spill is getting smaller each day, which you would hope for, considering the amount of chemicals used! Now let's hope that it will be safe to eat fish from the Gulf!

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille

Update on the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand

It's time for an update on the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand, that saw crude oil on Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samed. The previous two posts on my blog can be found here and here.

Clean up under way at Ao Phrao on Koh Samed

In general it's good to see that many independent parties are very wary of the official lines, experts scoff at PPTCG's response and it's also reported that the spill may be bigger than it looks and the recovery will be tough. The Public is warned of air pollution caused by the Rayong oil spill.

All not great news, although;

The Energy Ministry promises to complete its investigation into the cause of the disastrous offshore oil spill within seven days and to ensure full compensation by PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC).

"The situation is under control now as no oil stain is found on the waters off Koh Samet," Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisa said yesterday. 

Anon Sirisangtaksin, CEO of PTTGC, promised Ao Phrao would be cleaned up within seven days.

The use of the dispersant called Slickgone NS would not threaten marine life, he said. 

About 35,000 litres of the chemical have been sprayed on the oil slick in the past days, prompting concern among environmentalists.

Partly cleaned beach on Koh Samed

The TAT has joined the party now as well, and in their everlasting optimism, they have released a fact sheet. This is one of the things they claim as a fact;

"The rapid deployment of roughly 500 personnel of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, navy personnel and volunteers has facilitated a rapid clean up effort. Only about 10% of the original oil spill remains in Ao Phrao. It is expected to take about 1-2 days to the remove the sludge."

I can only hope that they're right but somehow I doubt it.

An aerial view of oil spill as of today

Satellite image by Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), as of 1 August 2013, 06.09 hrs

The image shows the area of the oil film is concentrated on the north side of the Samet Island (Ko Samet) and shrinking. There is no impact on nearby islands such as Plateen Island, Kham Island and Kudee Island. In addition, the density of the oil film is thinning considerably as the image shows the water color clearly appearing on the surface.

Good news in fact is that only Ao Phrao was affected by the oil slick. The rest of Koh Samed is normal. Swimming is possible in the waters including at Had Sai Kaew (Crystal Sand Beach), Ao Wong Duean, Ao Phai, Ao Kio and Ao Karang all of which are located on the east part of Koh Samed. The whole Eastern side of the island is totally unaffected.

Coral near Koh Samed, clearly visible is a black layer on top

Ther has now also been Thai marine divers who dived near Koh Samed and they spotted black layers on coral and in the sand. I wrote about this on my dive blog, so please follow the appropriate link.

Protect the Samui archipelago logo, guess the logo speaks for itself!

The oil spill is not 100% contained yet, it seems and the long term effects is something we probably can only find out in 10 or 20 years down the line. Let's hope that this environmental disaster will not have too much an impact on nature and the tourist industry in the affected areas and for Thailand in general.

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille

Goodbye to July 2013

The end of this July is in sight and it's time to say goodbye. It was quite an eventful month, especially towards the very last couple of days.

Firsts let's check the weather though for this July of 2013. Quite frankly, it wasn't good. Lots of cloudy days, lots of rain and lots of strong wind. Not typical for your average July on Koh Samui. Although you can expect some rain and cloudy days during July since it's part of a monsoon period (although the rainy days usually hit the East coast harder this time of the year), Samui got much more than asked for! 

On the other hand though, the amount of rain did the island good, the ground water levels have had time and plenty of water to fill up again. If you were here for a sunny holiday, it may have been slightly disappointing with the amount of rain coming down. We even had a few stormy days with some toppled over trees all over the island!

To compare other July's, going back since 2007, please have a look at my archives, half way down the page on this blog, right hand side. Open a month that you’re interested in and check one of the last posts of each month, starting with ‘Goodbye to…………’, just like this post and it will tell you the weather conditions for that month.

You can also check each individual post for that month if you wish to.

Koh Samed, Ao Phrao beach covered in oil

As already mentioned, the last couple of days of this July version were filled with news and most of it not very good news. The biggest news must have been the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand that reached Koh Samed. Very sad and not good for the environment, unsure what the long term effects on the ocean will be with the chemicals being used and scary, come to think of the fact that oil platforms are within 40 kilometers of Koh Samui.

Big local news were the killing of a police officer at a local gas station in Chaweng and the fire that erupted on a Raja ferry in Lipa Noi just a few days ago, which material damage of around 10 million Thai Baht.

Other shocking nationwide news was the revelation that Thailand has the worst traffic safety in the world, according to a recent study.

The day before the Surat Thani half marathon the wind wreaked havoc near the finish line

On a personal level, it was a fairly quiet month work wise, since I was all month at home, not travelling around teaching PADI IDC's. It was busy on the running front though, after my first marathon that I ran last month in Lansaka, I had four races lined up this month, a 13km race in Phun Phin, a half marathon in Surat Thani and a last minute surprise, the third weekend of this month featured the Koh Phangan Full Moon marathon, where I attended last year already the 10km run, during which I came in 2nd in my age group and this year I decided to run the full marathon distance. This time I managed to come in as 7th in my age group for the classic 42,195 km distance, the last spot that earned you a price.

A fourth race was scheduled last weekend in Wiang Sa, also in Surat Thani province, like the other 3 races, but I never made because of a knee injury I developed during the Koh Phangan marathon. It's a few weeks off running now, to let my knee heal. That's hard and not easy but necessary!

During hte first kilometers of the Koh Phangan Full Moon marathon

We enjoyed good food at some of our favorite restaurants around the island, including Juzza Pizza in Fishermans Village, pork sateh and 'raad na' at Dcheed 2 in Chaweng and Korean food at Arirang in Choengmon just to name a few.

Hope you enjoyed the blog this month and I look forward welcoming you again in next month, August 2013, when Samui should be full with visitors, looking for the islands beautiful beaches and ll the other things that make Samui such a great destination.

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille

The oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand and Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samed

Here's the promised follow up on the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand. The situation is grave and the reason I'm writing about this is because of the proximity of oil rig platforms being located within 40 km of Koh Samui. A scary thought if something would happen on one of these platforms and Samui beaches would look like Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samed.

The English newspaper 'The Nation' calls it a 'Black day for Koh Samed' but the most interesting article yet to emerge I found to be this article from the Bangkok Post, where the an opposition MP lashed out towards the government, claiming 'PTT is hiding the truth' of the oil spill. He claims the mentioned amount of spilled oil. 50,000 liters, has to be more and he said the government had not taken a needed hands-on approach to the problem. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment did not take any action, asserting that PTTGC had the situation under control, he said, among others.

The route of the oil spill

Koh Samed was yesterday declared a marine disaster area, according to Rayong Governor Wichit Chatphaisit, who said action was being taken to prevent the leaked oil from spreading from Ao Phrao to other beaches on the island.

"The spill is definitely having an impact on the environment, but we have not detected any deaths of marine animals yet," he said.

It is expected to take about 15 days to restore the polluted beach of Ao Phrao, according to Sumet Saithong, chief of the Laem Ya Samet Islands National Park.

He said about 500 officials from the Pollution Control Department; Depart-ment of Environment Quality Promotion; petrochemical firm PTT Global Chemical, from whose pipeline the oil leaked; and those sent by the Rayong provincial governor, were cleaning up oil that had washed ashore.

Very sad for the environment is that more than 100 rai of the stag horn and giant clam coral reef surrounding Kudee Island, 6 kilometers to the east of Samet Island, is now threatened by the oil spill if efforts to contain the leak fail. Although, considering the size of the spill, this news was to be expected.

Interesting is that now State agencies are preparing to file a lawsuit against PTT Global Chemical Plc (PTTGC) for compensation over the environmental damage caused by the oil spill from its offshore pipeline on Saturday. 

This will be government versus government (PTT is state owned).

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 30th July, 2013

Today's weather;

There is a light cloud cover this morning around Koh Samui and hopefully this will disperse during the morning, just like yesterday. Current temp at 7am is 26.2C

Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samed, the oil spill that ruined the beach, an update can be found here. Very sad to look at this

Yesterday saw cloud cover at the start of the day but during the morning more and more blue spots crept in and we could enjoy some sunshine. There were still plenty of clouds but it was also sunny at times or rather for most lart of the day. Max temp reached 32.7C

It was a busy day yesterday with some interesting and in the same time, unfortunate events happening, first I reported about the Raja ferry that caught fire and after that the results of the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand became apparent with oil reaching beaches on Koh Samed. 

The forecast still predicts wind over the next 7 days, especially over the weekend although the likelihood of rain has diminished, there still may be a shower or two coming our way.

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille

Oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand hits Koh Samed

Yesterday an oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand caused by a pipe leak at an offshore platform yesterday has led to concern about the possible adverse impacts on the environment.

More than 70 tonnes of crude oil spilled into the sea following a leak in a crude-oil pipe at an offshore platform operated by PTT Global Chemical, a subsidiary of petroleum company PTT.

A Koh Samed oil spilled beach

One of he main people in charge came with this statement yesterday "We still have some concern about the chemical being used, even though it is clear that the oil leak will not reach the beaches or coral," said Phuchong Saritsadeechaikol, director of the government's Marine and Coastal Resource Conservation Center in Rayong.

Unfortunately he has been proofed completely wrong, as the pictures here speak for themselves, since the oil reached Koh Samed beaches.

Koh Samed beach today

The platform that had the leak is government owned (PTT), so that won't make things easier from a legal point of view, it'll be a case of the government going after the government? Very unlikely to happen.

An aerial view of the leak moving towards Koh Samed

The scary part however, is that similar platforms are in front of Koh Samui now and very nearby, less than 40km away from Samui beaches, as reported in March. With a spill on one of these platforms, Koh Samui could look like this.

Some of the work on the beaches, involving army personal among others

A sad state of affairs and we can only hope that the Thai authorities do their uttermost best to contain this environmental disaster.

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille