Fresh delay: at Montara
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Delay pushes back Montara relief bid
A fresh delay has hit PTTEP's attempts to plug the blown out borehole at the Montara field, off north-western Australia, with the Thai operator saying today that it has pushed back work until Monday at the earliest.
The damaged well, which blew out on 21 August, has been leaking hydrocarbons into the Timor Sea for seven weeks.
Earlier this week, PTTEP was confident that its second attempt to plug the leak would go ahead this weekend. However the company issued a statement today saying it had hit an "unexpected delay" and work would not resumed until Monday.
PTTEP Australasia said a second attempt to plug the leak at the Montara well-head platform, more than 200km off the Kimberley coast, will be delayed until at least Monday at the earliest.
Jose Martins, the chief financial officer of the country's Australian unit, said: "Establishing a sidetrack well in these conditions, where the deep rock formation is very hard, can be slow, and unfortunately delays can occur.
"Overnight, an operation to establish the side track well from the 2494-metre level back down to the target depth of 2600 metres was not producing the necessary progress."
He added that PTTEP now plans to replace the rotary drilling assembly being used by jack-up West Triton with a downhole motor assembly to re-establish the side track.
Replacing each drilling assembly requires a trip back up the full 2700 metre length of the relief well to fit and test before restarting drilling, further pushing out the timelines.
Once the leaking well is intercepted, heavy mud will be pumped from the West Triton into the relief well, displacing the oil, gas and water and stopping the flow.
PTTEP said it plans to use "a more aggressive drilling method" to drill within five metres of the existing well casing when the side track well is completed.
Martins added: "With every pass, the field of uncertainty is narrowed and this significantly increases the probability of a successful intercept."
The company is targeting a 25 centimetre diameter area on the steel casing of the blown out bore, at a depth of 2600 metres.
Meanwhile, Australian media reports say conservationists have stepped up their criticism of the state and federal governments' response to the spill, which occurred in waters off Western Australia's remote north-west coast.
Environmental groups claim the isolated area is home to a number of endangered species.
On Tuesday, environmental groups published an open letter in WA's daily newspaper, The West Australian, urging oil and gas company chief executives to protect the area.
The letter urged the companies to support the establishment of large marine sanctuaries in the area, WA Today said.
Last week, Indonesia dispatched a team of officials to monitor Australia's response to the oil spill, saying it feared the contamination could harm Indonesia's marine life.