Montara oil spill: oil slick larger than reported, says Australia Green Party.
Rudd brands Montara slick 'appalling'
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has branded "appalling" the oil slick from the Montara blowout, which is threatening marine life off Australia's north-western coast.
“It’s appalling that this has occurred, but we are working to deal with the situation as it unfolds,” Rudd told a Perth radio station today, according to an emailed transcript.
Meanwhile, Australia's Green Party claimed the oil slick at Montara oilfield "is far more serious" than both the operator PTT Exploration & Production and the government are saying.
Senator Rachel Siewert flew over the slick during he weekend, and said: "We were not prepared for the extent of what we saw."
"The government must urgently intervene, to stand up to the oil company and start immediate action to protect these precious waters and the whale, turtle, fish and other species that call them home."
"We measured oil from the spill to be 180 kilometres across (west to east). We did not have time to review the extent north or south, however from the rig site, the oil film spread from horizon to horizon."
She claimed it was "only a matter of time" before oil started "hitting the Kimberley coast and damaging fringing coral reefs and mangroves".
PTTEP has denied Siewert's claim that about 500,000 litres (3000 barrels) of oil and gas is spilling into the Timor Sea from the blowout site.
The company said that the flow from the wellhead platform is difficult to estimate. Because of the gas, the wellhead area is extremely dangerous, which makes accurate measurements impossible, the company added.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said on Saturday the slick was within a rectangular area measuring about 25 nautical miles (46 kilometres) by 70 nautical miles (130 kilometres). It also said coverage of oil within that area has lessened.
PTTEP said yesterday the jack-up drilling rig West Triton was due to arrive on 8 September to drill a relief well to stop the ongoing flow of oil and gas from the leaking well.
Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (Nopsa) said it continued "to be concerned about the risk of ignition of flammable hydrocarbons at the site and the potential for harm to people.
"Accordingly, Nopsa has taken action to prohibit the operators of the facilities from exposing their personnel to unacceptable risks and to ensure that operators take all necessary steps to protect the health and safety of people undertaking recovery activities".
The blowout occurred last week on the Montara wellhead platform. The jack-up West Atlas was drilling a well through the Montara platform when a well bore which had previously been drilled blew out.
- Full Upstream coverage of the Montara blowout is available in the related stories section to the right of this article.