Thai fishermen and business owners have filed lawsuits worth $150 million against a subsidiary of US energy giant Chevron over a huge oil spill last year, lawyers said Tuesday.

More than 60 tonnes of oil was pumped into the Gulf of Thailand last January after an issue with a pipeline operated by Star Petroleum Refining Public Company (SPRC).

Crews scrambled to clean up the spill off Rayong province, roughly two hours' drive from capital Bangkok, with images from the time showing the picturesque and popular beaches slick with oil.

SPRC, whose major shareholder is Chevron, is accused of failing to properly maintain the pipeline that caused the leak, according to lawsuits filed by Rising Sun Law.

The firm, which represents 837 people including fishermen, tourism operators and residents, claimed in the suits that the leak was not adequately addressed by the companies.

Following the spill, dozens of ships sprayed more than 80,000 litres of chemicals over the affected area, and the lawsuits allege that too much was pumped into the ocean, causing environmental damage.

"We are trying to create a fund, an environmental rehabilitation fund, for which we asked for 5,000 million baht ($150 million) as coverage for the whole natural rehabilitation," said a Rising Sun lawyer, who asked not to be named.

The fund would be the first of its kind in Thailand, the lawyer said.

A Thai court agreed to accept the case, but it declined to waive legal fees, meaning some of the plaintiffs must pay up to 20,000 baht to proceed with the lawsuits, the lawyer said.

"We are not sure if or how any of them will be able to afford that," according to the lawyer, who added that the law firm plans to raise money using crowdfunding.

SPRC and Chevron did not respond to requests for comment.

rbu/mca

CHEVRON

Related Links
All About Oil and Gas News at OilGasDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

BNP Paribas says to sharply cut oil production financing
Paris (AFP) Jan 24, 2023
French bank BNP Paribas said Tuesday it plans to cut its financing of oil extraction and production by 80 percent by 2030. The pledge goes further than its previous 25-percent cut by 2025, even if oil refining and gas extraction are not covered. BNP Paribas had 5.3 billion euros in oil extraction and production financing as of the end of last September, and intends to reduce that to below one billion by 2030. By comparison, BNP Paribas had 12.1 billion euros of financing for oil refining, 5. ... read more