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| This handout photo provided by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and taken on Sept. 28, 2009 shows a man looking at a waxy substance found in water affected by the Montara oil rig leak in the Timor Sea. A Thai state-owned firm on Thursday admitted four charges over a huge oil spill off northwestern Australia, the country’s worst ever offshore drilling accident. (AFP Photo/HO/WWF/ Kara Burns) |
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A Thai
state-owned firm on Thursday admitted four charges over a huge oil spill off
northwestern Australia, the country’s worst ever offshore drilling accident.
Thousands
of barrels of oil gushed into the sea over 10 weeks following a blowout at
PTTEP Australasia’s West Atlas rig in the Timor Sea three years ago.
The slick
from the Montara oil field spread as far as Indonesian waters and
environmentalists said it grew to almost 90,000 square kilometers.
The firm, a
unit of Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production, pleaded guilty to breaching
the Offshore Petroleum Act, admitting it failed to take all reasonable steps to
prevent the spill and placed rig workers in danger.
An
Australian government inquiry blamed widespread and systematic shortcomings at
PTTEP AA for the spill, over which Indonesia sought $2.4 billion in
compensation for damage to reefs and fisheries.
PTTEP AA is
facing more than Aus $1 million ($1.03 million) in fines following its guilty
plea at Darwin Magistrates Court, with company chief Ken Fitzpatrick saying
that “mistakes were made that should never be repeated.”
“From the
outset we have admitted responsibility for the incident and deeply regret it
occurring,” Fitzpatrick told reporters outside the court.
“The
hearing today draws a line under the Montara incident and allows us to focus on
delivering safe, clean operations in Australia now and in the future,” he
added.
PTTEP paid
for the clean-up and Fitzpatrick said the environmental impact was estimated to
have cost the company Aus $40-50 million. It had also driven a transformation
of the firm’s operations and culture, he added.
The court
is expected to deliver its sentence on Friday.
PTTEP’s
Australian offshore drilling license was renewed in February 2011 on a strict
18-month probation period, with the government warning it would be subject to a
rigorous monitoring regime.
The Montara
field has not been operational since the spill in 2009, but “PTTEP AA is in the
process of finalizing a series of extensive repairs. First oil at the facility
is scheduled for late 2012,” PTTEP AA told the Jakarta Globe in an e-mail
statement.
Agence France-Presse & JG
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