residue: from left, AES researchers Simon Mutoe and Chris Sanderson, together with Lindsay Moller photograph a section of thick greasy surface residue in waters affected by Montara oil rig leak in the Timor Sea
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WWF warns of 'massive' Montara damage
The WWF today claimed a wide range of marine wildlife - including dolphins, sea birds and two species of turtle - are under threat from the slick caused by the Montara blow-out, off Australia’s remote Kimberley coast.
The claims came after the conservation group issued a report compiled by consultants Applied Energy Solutions following an expedition to the affected area in the Timor Sea.
The WWF said dolphins, migratory sea birds and sea snakes were found in abundance in the area, as well as two species of marine turtle. The group added many of these species were recorded swimming through the oil-affected area.
The slick started on 21 August, when a well blew out at the Montara oilfield.
Three attempts by Montara's Thailand-based operator PTTEP to plug the leaking well with heavy mud have failed. A fourth attempt to plug the well will be made this weekend.
A PTTEP spokesman declined to comment on the WWF report, saying it needed more time to assess the study's findings.
He added it was also waiting on the results of a further studies being carried out by the federal Department of the Environment. The department issued a report yesterday saying the spill had had no environmental impact.
However, the Curtin University scientists who carried out tests used in that report claimed that those tests - carried out on just four frozen fish - may not be a comprehensive indicator of the spill's environmental impact.
Commenting on today's report, WWF Australia's director of conservation, Dr Gilly Llewellyn said: "We recorded hundreds of dolphins and sea birds in the oil slick area, as well as sea snakes and threatened hawksbill and flatback turtles.
"It's a stark contrast to comments made this week by the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) that claimed our survey found no evidence of harm to marine life."
On Wednesday, PTTEP reported high levels of mortality among oil-affected seabirds.
"Clearly, wildlife is dying and hundreds if not thousands of dolphins, seabirds and sea snakes are being exposed to toxic oil," Llewellyn said.
"The critical issue is the long-term impact of this slick on a rich marine ecosystem, taking into consideration the magnitude, extent and duration of the event," she added.
"We know that oil can be a slow and silent killer. Impacts from the Exxon Valdez disaster are still being seen 20 years later, so we can expect this environmental disaster will continue to unfold for years to come."
The 1989 ExxonValdez spill saw 40 million litres of crude choke Alaska's Prince William Sound.
WWF is aware of a second sea-based survey team that has been to the area and collected data on the spill's impact on marine life and has called for all evidence and observations to be made publically available.
"The public needs to have all available information concerning what has been observed and reported, including findings from Ashmore Reef, and from the vessels and platforms in the area," Llewellyn said.
As of 22 October, two months after the accident, the blown out well bore is still leaking.
Estimates for the amount of oil, gas and condensate leaking from the well have been put at almost 500,000 litres - 3145 barrels - to date.
PTTEP says just 300 to 400 barrels of oil per day is leaking from the damaged well bore, but the Department of Resources, Energy & Tourism yesterday told a Senate committee it believed up to 2000 bpd is being pumped into the sea.
Australia's federal Resources Ministry has said it believes PTTEP's estimates, adding that the higher estimate is based on flows if the well was in full production.
Official estimates of the size of the slick from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) indicate that it is about 6000 square kilometres (25 x 70 nautical miles) but the expedition found oil sheen at distances beyond 70 nautical miles from the wellhead platform.
Satellite images from 24 September indicate that the leak could have covered between 25,000 square kilometres and 10,000 square kilometres.
With oil continuing to leak since then the footprint of the slick can only have grown, WWF added.
Meanwhile federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he is confident everything possible is being done to stop the oil leak.
"The fact of the matter is, it's a fiendishly difficult exercise - a little bit like threading the needle - to try to get this oil spill stopped," he said.
"I very much hope that it will be on this occasion. I'm concerned about it, but we've put a lot of measures in place not only to monitor it, but to make sure that any wildlife that's affected is properly treated."
Earlier this week, AMSA said the cost of the clean-up had reached more than A$5 million (US$4.6 million).
- WWF's report into the spill can be found here.