Pristine white beaches turned black this week when crude oil spewed out from an offshore pipeline near the Thai island of Ko Samet.
The pipeline, owned by Thai oil and gas company PTT Global Chemical, spilled an estimated 50,000 litres of crude oil. This is modest – the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico spilled millions of litres of oil per day – but there are fears that unfavourable ocean currents and weather conditions could allow some of the oil to reach the Thai mainland.
"What's interesting about this oil spill is the disproportionate effects it's having," says Paul Johnston of Greenpeace Research Laboratories in Exeter, UK, which provides scientific advice to the environmental campaign group Greenpeace. "It's a relatively small volume of oil compared to tanker disasters, but it's having huge impacts on tourism and the marine industry."
Tourists are deserting the island even though not all its beaches are affected. "Oil slicks are not nice to be around," says Johnston. "Not only are they ugly, but they also smell pungent."
Fishing in the vicinity will suffer, too: shellfish and other aquatic life will take up water-soluble toxins from the oil, rendering them toxic.
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