On August 21, 2009, the Montara H1 production well, located on the Montara Wellhead Platform, 200 kilometres off Western Australia’s Kimberley coast, suffered a dramatic well-control accident. The resulting environmental disaster has now been recognised as one of Australia’s worst oil spills, and comes at a time when this biologically rich marine region is increasingly in the spotlight for oil and gas development.
In September, a whole month after the incident and with oil still spewing into the Timor Sea, WWF launched a research trip from Darwin to the affected area to gain a first-hand snapshot of the region’s marine life and the potential impacts and risk to marine wildlife of the slick. The expedition set sail on Thursday 24 September and after steaming out to the remote site, spent three days carrying wildlife surveys using a team of trained ecologists.
We found a region rich in marine wildlife and awash in a sea of oil and slicks of waxy, crusty residue. At one point the smell of the fumes from the leaking rig was so strong we had to change course. We know that oil can be a slow and silent killer and it was sickening to sea dolphins surfacing in the oil and sea birds feeding on the slicks and patches of sheen.
The expedition report released last Friday describes the results of three days of surveys which included sightings of 202 Spinner Dolphins, 77 Pan Tropical Spotted dolphins, 30 bottlenose dolphins, 176 Sooty terns, many other sea-birds, sea snakes and the occasional turtle in the region affected by the slick. It comes at a time when the company has also reported deaths of 16 out of 25 oil affected birds at Ashmore reef.
For the two months since the accident happened we have had an oil slick visible from space, covering an area of thousands of square kilometers. The size, extent and duration means that hundreds if not thousands of our most precious wildlife will have been exposed to the toxic effects of oil, as well as untold damage to the underwater ecosystem and contamination of the food chain. If this was oil off our favourite beaches and swimmers and surfers were at risk, then there would be public outrage. Out of sight should not mean out of mind.
We know from the Exxon Valdez disaster that impacts from an oil spill can be seen 20 years later, so we can expect this environmental disaster will continue to unfold for years to come.
See more images here.
On his Crikey blog, The Northern Myth, Bob Gosford writes:
I am at a loss as to why this marine disaster has hardly registered on the Australian radar – press coverage appears to have been piecemeal at best, with little comprehensive coverage of the local, regional and international consequences.
The political response has been limited to hand-wringing stop-gap measures and to paying for a series of failed attempts to plug the spill and some apparently ineffective mopping-up operations.
This is a disaster of not only local, but regional and international proportions. And, while the weather conditions in and around the Timor Sea are relatively stable at present, the impending arrival of the seasonal monsoonal cycle in the coming months will substantially change the nature and location of the impact of this massive spill.
The Jakarta Post reports that the slick is already in Indonesian waters and is causing illness and will have a substantial economic affect on traditional fishers and harvesters on Rote Island:
Four weeks after the oil spill, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) submitted an official report to the Indonesian government mentioning that volumes of crude oil had entered the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone, some 51 nautical miles from Rote Island.
Traditional fishermen operating off Pasir Island found an oil slick resembling a pool around 20 miles from Tablolong beach in Kupand, or around 30 nautical miles from Kolbano, South Central Timor regency.
Last week, fishermen on the coast of Rote Ndao regency started complaining of illnesses as a result of the oil spill that had reached land and damaged thousands of hectares of ready-to-harvest seaweed.
“Seaweed, which is one of the province’s prime commodities, has been polluted. If the farmers fail to harvest their seaweed, they would incur losses of up to billions of rupiah,” said the West Timor Care Foundation NGO director Ferdi Tanoni.
And the Timor Oil spill has been picked up by East Timorese bloggers here and here.
The West Atlas oil rig in the Timor Sea, operated by the Thai-owned PTTEP Australasia, blew on August 21 and has leaked over 400,000 litres of oil, gas and condensate into the Timor Sea at a rate of reported variously as being from 300 to 1200 barrels a day.
This is a disaster of unquestioned huge magnitude. Its effects will be far-reaching and most serious. And yet our wondrous governments in Canberra Darwin and Perth seem to care not one iota. Where is Peter Garrett, Karl Hampton etc. There is not one sign of any concern anywhere. When Ian McFarlane highlighted the disaster recently and advocated some meaningful action, he was put down in the usual disparaging manner that the Govt spinners always use these days.
Rudd yells about pollution that may or may not be happening, and yet here is massive pollution that IS happening, and he is too busy slinging s–t at whomever, to get on with a most important matter.
Thanks Crikey, thanks Bob Gosford etc. Let’s make a real noise about this.
Did I hear correctly, that the polluting company just received an exploration licence covering thousands more square kilometres of Aussie coastal waters?
Peter Garret, hang your head in shame. You have sold out big time.
We need a modern day equivalent of Red Adair. It is obvious the clowns in the Thai Oil Company have no idea how to fix this disaster.The Thai Government as a major shareholder has to bear responsibility and get to compensate the Indonesians whose liveliehoods have been ruined.
I have one suggestion. Keep oil and gas exploration out of these pristin areas as we know from previous experiences that the mining industry has no conscience regarding environmental damage. Our fragile planet is dying for Gods’s sake.
Did anyone watch Dateline last night? One item covered oil exploration in the Niger Delta? The few are living like kings, while the ‘ordinary’ folk are living in poverty. The oil companies do whatever they wish without fear of question let alonebeing made to stop polluting the rivers etc, using ‘burn off’ to get rid of unwanted gas, which makes the sky glow red at night. The incidence of respiratory problems, increases in asthma; diseases of the lungs etc. It’s just horrific, and all the well known culprits are represented. They don’t give a toss!
If I had my way, they’d (responsible for this current horror in the Timor Sea) be fined very heavily and stood over by the military or police or both, until they cleaned up the mess. They certainly would not be allowed to have the opportunity to do it again.
In Australia, the proposed exploration for gas in WA should be either repealed, or they should be kept well away from land and any opportunity to cause destruction. I bet it won’t happen though, and a disaster will probably be the result. The govt is ‘in lust’ with the money it will bring, and the Opposition is only cranky because they believe they should have received all the praise for the deal! Two sides of the same destructive coin.As if China will be made to spend money making sure WA is safe from terrible oil spills? In my dreams! Dateline is repeated twice I think. It’s a must see!
Liz, I couldn’t bare to watch, but I saw the start of it. The fate of Ken Saro-Wiwa is still too stressful as are the Ogoni ongoing issues. It’s a very large population country in Nigeria and it seems corruption is endemic.
As for West Atlas and big media politics here: Laurie Oakes did the right thing with profile of Senator Bob Brown of the Greens last Sunday. This was in effect a balancer for Oakes in print wrongly attacking Brown’s colleague Senator Siewart for suggesting 2,000 barrels a day of oil spillage, when ALP ministers and resource mates were backgrounding it was only 400 barrels: A so called expose of Green’s hyperbole and unreliability.
Only Senate Estimates late last week proved the contrary, that Siewart was likely right all along and the industry were fudging if not outright lying. The back story is this:
In truth West Atlas is exhibit no.1 why Barrow Island class A nature reserve is totally unsafe in the hands of Big Oil and Gas, as well as the broader development of the Kimberley generally. Everyone knows it. Money politics is greenwashing the truth of it. You can’t eat money.
Also Minister Garrett is totally exposed. Back in 1992 he issued a cassette tape labelled “EXXON OIL MAKES US SICK”. Exactly. West Atlas no different. So how did the ALP Govt machine pimp Garrett this time? They gave him a policy decision to announce – a very big Indigenous reserve/employment project in the NT. Uplifting stuff. Very correct.
But consider the timing. And consider the level of threat in each case? West Atlas and Kimberley increasingly drowning in oil pollution versus a remote area of NT and remote Aboriginal Communities. This is class ALP pimping of the environment/environment movement politics. It goes back as far as Hawke championing the protection of Franklin River and promoting yellowcake mining, radon gas, nuclear waste cycle.
Take note. It all comes back to a truthful analysis of level of threat at the relevant time. So much for choreography. Garrett can console himself there would be no consolation prizes without him in ALP harness but that’s bogus. He could have been capacity building an balance off power in the Senate. He could have been negotiating in public as his own man. Too late, too late.
If he had any gumption and sense he would quit the ALP and nominate to run for The Greens in the Senate somewhere – ACT for instance. A big mea culpa might just get him there, the big w*nker.