Thai authority:Tar balls did not come from petroleum exploration, production

BANGKOK, November 30 (TNA) - The Department of Mineral Fuels, under the Ministry of Energy, has denied tar balls found in the Thai South came from petroleum exploration and production. The department's Director-General, Veerasak Pungrassamee, confirmed on Monday that tar balls found in Lang Suan District of the southern Chumphon Province on November 29 did not result from petroleum exploration and production. Veerasak told journalists that his department, which supervises all petroleum concessionaires in the Gulf of Thailand, found no leaks from any production platform in the gulf and there was not a petroleum exploration and production activity in Chumphon. Veerasak explained that such the activity by PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) happened in the area two years ago near the Nang Nuan oil field, where no oil was discovered and wells have already, thus, been filled. To prove this, the senior official noted, his department, together with Chumphon's energy officials collected samples of the tar balls for a laboratory test and asked Bangkok's Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISDA) to find out the source of the tar balls. (TNA)