As predicted in Crikey, the plugging effort on the Montara oil well in the Timor Sea has now missed, twice. It is eight weeks since the blowout, meaning about three million litres of oil have spilled at the company-estimated rate of 300 to 400 BOPD.
The sun was nicely positioned for another NASA satellite view of the resulting slick on Monday:
I’m not sure what all that light coloured stuff headed for the coast is, but maybe the 100,000 litres of detergent that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has applied have something to do with it.
The north-west monsoon is due soon. It’s called that because the wind blows from which direction, I wonder? What happens then?
My question to the AMSA of September 3 stands: at what point will the obvious fix of igniting the leaking well be considered?
More NASA satellite photos of the slick development can be viewed here, here and here.
Glen Fergus is a Crikey reader and NASA satellite enthusiast
Really? Such a fire might never be extinguishable to burn for 100 years? What are the pros and cons of such a radical idea?
They will hit and plug it eventually, probably within days to weeks. This is not Sidoarjo.
A fire would destroy a multi-million dollar rig and greatly complicate eventual well completion / cleanup. But given the relatively light oil and high gas fraction, it might burn strongly enough to significantly reduce the slick impact.