An oil slick 15 kilometres long and 30 metres wide resulted from a 21 August blowout from a well on the Montara wellhead platform.
Another jack-up owned by Seadrill, the West Atlas, was working at Montara at the time of the incident. It was drilling through the platform on an adjacent well, and all ?69 personnel on board had to abandon the unit. This was done safely with no injuries reported.
PTTEP, which is an experienced offshore operator in Thailand but relatively new to Australia, immediately began an emergency response that included the Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority promptly sending aircraft to fly above the oil slick and apply dispersant.
As Upstream went to press, the oil slick was not showing signs of expanding.
PTTEP said the West Triton should arrive in Western Australia about 9 September and that it could take four weeks to drill the relief well. The rig was due to be towed out from Indonesia's Batam Island on ?26 August.
Offers of additional drilling rigs are being evaluated. In addition to preparing for the relief well, other alternatives to control the well are being investigated with help from US specialist Alert Well Control.
PTTEP said it had enough support vessels and aircraft to continue to monitor the wellhead platform and the West Atlas, while the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it was "well prepared for a protracted clean-up operation".
