PTTEP Says It Has Stopped Oil Spill, Blaze on Rig Off Australia

By James Paton and Sarah McDonald

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- PTT Exploration & Production Pcl has plugged a well that has been leaking oil and gas off northwestern Australia for 10 weeks, and extinguished the main blaze engulfing a drilling rig, the company said.

Experts on board a nearby rig pumped about 3,400 barrels of heavy mud down a relief well to stop the leak, PTTEP said in an e-mailed statement. The main fire at the Montara well head platform has been put out, although some material on the rig may still be ablaze, the company said.

“PTTEP drilling experts who are monitoring online well data in Perth reported the situation was stable and well pressure was being maintained,” the statement said.

PTTEP, Thailand’s only publicly traded oil-exploration company, has estimated that up to 400 barrels of oil a day were seeping into the Timor Sea. WWF-Australia has called the oil spill an unfolding environmental disaster and has reported seeing dolphins, birds and sea turtles swimming in the oil slick.

PTTEP slumped to the lowest in three months, dropping 2.6 percent to 133.5 baht in Bangkok, adding to yesterday’s 5.5 percent slide.

A fire erupted on Nov. 1 as the Bangkok-based company injected mud into the well to try to halt the flow of oil and gas. The blaze at the West Atlas drilling rig was “out of control,” Jose Martins, a director of the company’s Australian unit, said yesterday. Losing the rig, which may collapse into the ocean, will delay the start of extracting an estimated 35,600 barrels of oil a day from the field.

Australia’s Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson told reporters an investigation into the spill will take place after the well is plugged and the fire is extinguished. PTTEP has engaged “world-leading” companies to help in the effort, he said yesterday.

Third-Biggest Spill

A daily flow of 300-400 barrels of oil since the leak started Aug. 21 would make the spill the third-biggest in the nation’s history, based on figures from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Web site. The company has failed on prior three attempts to stem the flow.

PTTEP has said it will pay the maritime safety authority’s costs for cleaning up and controlling the spill. The company has set aside A$177 million ($160 million) as provisions against costs for the leak.

The world’s largest population of humpback whales, about 22,000, is found along the northwestern coast, according to a survey by whale researchers Richard Costin and Annabelle Sandes.

Tourism Australia describes the region as “one of the world’s last true wilderness areas.” Ashmore Reef, which supports sea snakes, dugongs and marine turtle nesting sites, was feared to be within reach of leaking oil in the spill’s early days.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney jpaton4@bloomberg.net.