News Forum - Another leak found in underwater oil pipeline off the Rayong coast

[Thaiger]

Another oil leak in the pipeline off the coast of Rayong has been reported by the Star Petroleum Refining Public Company, which has sent a letter to the Map Ta Phut Provincial Police Station asking permission to repair the pipe and prevent further environmental damage. Since late January, oil leaking from the pipes have polluted Rayong’s Mae Ramphueng Beach, with some swimmers complaining of a smell in the water, and oil sticking to their body. On Tuesday, the company reported another leak found at an underwater pipeline north of the first leakage point and only a small amount of oil […]

The story Another leak found in underwater oil pipeline off the Rayong coast as seen on Thaiger News.

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[DoUKnowWhoIAm]

11 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

has sent a letter to the Map Ta Phut Provincial Police Station asking permission to repair the pipe and prevent further environmental damage.

Sent a letter?  A joke, right?

[Dedinbed]

12 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

Another oil leak in the pipeline

It would be crude to make light of this .. but I will anyway .. 

 

14 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

with some swimmers complaining of a smell in the water

Take your pick sewage or slick ..

 

15 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

and oil sticking to their body

best not wander to close to any barbeques then .. 

[Guevara]

3 minutes ago, DoUKnowWhoIAm said:

Sent a letter?  A joke, right?

You couldn't make this up.

[Prosaap]

Its not even a surprise any more did they ever do something that worked well they are dumb by choice they dont care and dont want to learn    

[Soidog]

35 minutes ago, DoUKnowWhoIAm said:

Sent a letter?  A joke, right?

You literally couldn’t make it up could you!

[Soidog]

36 minutes ago, DoUKnowWhoIAm said:

Sent a letter?  A joke, right?

I hope the letter had 8 copies with blue carbon paper sandwiched between each sheet. Lots of signatures of ever so important people will be required. Lots of stamps and officialdom. Meanwhile the oil is peeing in to the sea 

[AussieBob]

Anyone know where these 'pipes' go to and from where? 

[harry1]

should call in the local plumber,l had a leaking pipe as sherlock say you got to look everywhere and eliminate systematically 

[KaptainRob]

2 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Anyone know where these 'pipes' go to and from where? 

Floating buoys operate as offshore oil discharge points with pipes carrying the oil ashore to a refinery.

See pic >

[AussieBob]

27 minutes ago, KaptainRob said:

Floating buoys operate as offshore oil discharge points with pipes carrying the oil ashore to a refinery.

See pic >

Laid down in 1970s and not maintained much?  Because the ports are not deep enough for the tankers? 

[HolyCowCm]

Well slap me silly they found 2 oil leaks. Now we know why petrol is so darn expensive. Maybe the prices will finally come back down. Gonna go tell the wife. 

[HolyCowCm]

2 hours ago, KaptainRob said:

Floating buoys operate as offshore oil discharge points with pipes carrying the oil ashore to a refinery.

See pic >

Interesting. Something I never immagined. 

[Soidog]

4 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Anyone know where these 'pipes' go to and from where? 

Probably like the Bangkok Telco cables. Strewn all over the place. Poor records of what goes where. Maintenance records not updated most likely and generally one hell of a mess. Having one leak in a 5 year period would be bad enough. This is getting beyond silly now

[Cathat]

This is a single point mooring system used for discharge or uptake of crude oil.in this case it is for discharging crude oil to the near by refinery.

they are commonly known as "sbm's" after the world's major manufacturer of the system,bit long the lines of vacuum cleaners being called hoover's

they are common where sea conditions are moderate most of the year as it's the cheapest way to upload or discharge large amounts of crude oil.

They normally have a permanent dedicated dive team for regular inspection and maintenance of the system to stop this sort of incident occuring.

i used to know the very experienced expat diving supervisor of this particular system some years ago.

It was a dream job for him as he lived locally and did not need to go offshore anymore,he intended to stay untill retirement.

the full time diving team he supervised was made redundant to save money.

I am not sure if they were replaced.

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by Cathat

[Alavan]

2 hours ago, KaptainRob said:

Floating buoys operate as offshore oil discharge points with pipes carrying the oil ashore to a refinery.

See pic >

They have SPM's in Thailand? I didn't know.
Loaded several times on them in Mediteranean ports (Algeria, Libya, Libanon, Syria) and the PG in the seventies

[Stevejm]

On 2/17/2022 at 4:58 PM, Prosaap said:

Its not even a surprise any more did they ever do something that worked well they are dumb by choice they dont care and dont want to learn    

That’s a very ignorant comment! Who are “they”? I am very familiar with this pipeline as I worked on it in the early 2000s. It is a huge 48 inch steel pipeline that goes out to a single point mooring located 25km offshore. It was installed in the 1990s. It’s not really surprising that leaks are occurring as nothing lasts forever in a very aggressive marine environment. The current owners will have to find a way to repair it as replacement probably isn’t a viable option 

[Stevejm]

On 2/17/2022 at 4:30 PM, DoUKnowWhoIAm said:

Sent a letter?  A joke, right?

Probably the original report said something like “write to” and it was lost in translation 

[Stevejm]

20 hours ago, Alavan said:

They have SPM's in Thailand? I didn't know.
Loaded several times on them in Mediteranean ports (Algeria, Libya, Libanon, Syria) and the PG in the seventies

This pipeline goes to an SPM located 25km offshore 

[Stevejm]

20 hours ago, Soidog said:

Probably like the Bangkok Telco cables. Strewn all over the place. Poor records of what goes where. Maintenance records not updated most likely and generally one hell of a mess. Having one leak in a 5 year period would be bad enough. This is getting beyond silly now

Actually I know from personal experience with the pipeline the American company that originally installed the pipeline didn’t even do an as built detailed survey of the pipeline location after they installed it. As a result when my company built a power plant over it we had to use rubber tipped boring machines to try to locate it.

[Soidog]

59 minutes ago, Stevejm said:

Actually I know from personal experience with the pipeline the American company that originally installed the pipeline didn’t even do an as built detailed survey of the pipeline location after they installed it. As a result when my company built a power plant over it we had to use rubber tipped boring machines to try to locate it.

Amazing. How did they manage to get away without supplying as builts to the customer?  

[Stevejm]

1 hour ago, Soidog said:

Amazing. How did they manage to get away without supplying as builts to the customer?  

That’s what we asked!

Edited February 18, 2022 by Stevejm

[Soidog]

23 minutes ago, Stevejm said:

That’s what we asked!

Truly amazing. They are bound to struggle with subsequent maintenance or upgrade activities then. 

[Alavan]

SPM in Brega (Libya) 1970