State of emergency over Thailand oil spill

A province in eastern Thailand has declared a state of emergency after crude oil reached its beaches following an oil spill from a ruptured pipeline late last month.

Approximately 47,000 litres of oil are estimated to have leaked into the Gulf of Thailand from an underwater hose used to load tankers at an offshore single point mooring (SPM) owned by Star Petroleum Refining Company (SPRC), in which US supermajor Chevron is the majority shareholder.

SPRC said that divers have been able to inspect the subsea equipment around the SPM and had identified a failure on one of the subsea flexible hoses.

“We have a long history as a safe, reliable and caring operator. We take full responsibility for our operations [and] are deeply saddened and disappointed by the impact of this spill,” SPRC chief executive Robert Joseph Dobrik told a media briefing on Friday.

“SPRC will undertake a…