BANGKOK, 5 July 2012 – The Prime Minister has urged the Energy Ministry to speedily conclude an investigation into the fire accident at the Bangchak refinery in Bangkok.
Government spokesperson Sansanee Nakpong said that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been informed about the fire accident at a refinery of Bangchak Petroleum Public Company Limited, which took place at dawn on Wednesday.
Ms. Sansanee said that the Permanent Secretary for Energy was responsible for updating the PM with the situation and the initial cause of the fire.
The report suggested that the fire broke out at a refinery tower, with the production capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil per day, but spread to nowhere. No casualties have been reported too.
As the investigation into the incident continues, the fire-stricken refinery unit will be closed for 7 days.
Bangchak has assured that the temporary shutdown will not have any effect on consumers while residents in nearby have also been notified about the latest situation.
The government spokesperson said that the Prime Minister has urged the Energy Ministry to conclude the probe into the incident and come up with a set of measures to prevent the repeat of similar accidents in the future. The PM has instructed that all reports should be submitted in as soon as possible.
At the same time, the Prime Minister has ordered all state agencies related in economic affairs to collect all data to prepare preventive measures and to update the public with all the solutions the government has been planning, in order to help ease their anxiety.
