Director’s visit to Thailand

The Director, Gaute Sivertsen, was invited to visit the Marine Department of Thailand in Bangkok on 3 February 2023.

He spent the morning of his visit with the Deputy Director-General of the Marine Department, Phuripat Theerakulpisut, the Director of Marine Safety and Environmental Bureau, Pitak Wattanapongpisal and a number of officials from across different sections of the Department.

Mr Sivertsen delivered a presentation in which he gave an overview of the role of the IOPC Funds and the international liability and compensation regime in general.  He spoke specifically about Thailand’s status since joining the 1992 Fund in 2018, with the State now the 8th largest contributor to the 1992 Fund.  He expressed appreciation for Thailand’s valuable participation in the meetings of the IOPC Funds’ governing bodies and the importance of maintaining this strong engagement going forward. He also took the opportunity to encourage the State to consider further increasing its protection against the financial impact of a major oil spill by ratifying the Supplementary Fund Protocol.

During the afternoon, Mr Sivertsen was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with a number of representatives from the Thai oil companies contributing to the 1992 Fund.  He delivered a second presentation, explaining the oil reporting and contributions process in detail and answering related questions.

The visit was an excellent occasion for the IOPC Funds to engage directly with both government and industry and to strengthen the cooperation between Thailand and the IOPC Funds as a whole.