WWF Australia is hoping a report into the oil blowout and spill at the Montara offshore platform in the Timor Sea last year will answer some of the questions they have raised over the government’s response to the disaster.

90,000 Kilometres

Concerns were first raised over the handling of the disaster when it emerged in an inquiry that the oil from the blowout covered 90,000 kilometres of sea and reef. This figure was much larger than was reported at the time of the leak, suggesting a possible attempt to cover up the extent of the damage caused.

Weak Response

With the recent tragic blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, protocols for reacting to disasters such as this have come under intense scrutiny. With this new perspective, WWF-Australia wants to know why the Australian government’s response effort to the Montara oil spill was so weak in comparison to what is happening in the US.

Go Compare

“We’re seeing an environmental and economic catastrophe taking place in the United States,” said Dr Gilly Llewellyn, WWF-Australia’s Manger of Conservation. “There are lots of parallels between the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the oil spill we faced last year in the Timor Sea. That is, until you compare the responses.”

Worrying

Details that have emerged since the cleanup operation took place have shown that 247 people worked to contain the spill. What is worrying for WWF is that operator PTTEP refused offers of help from nearby rigs. In the US, 7500 people have been mobilised in an industry-wide response to the BP spill, along with unilateral support from the armed forces and other organisations.

Government Response

Meanwhile President Barack Obama is spearheading a US government response which has included an immediate inspection of other wells and a halt in all new offshore oil and gas exploration while the spill is dealt with and investigated.

Failings Rewarded

Despite PTTEP, the company responsible for the platform that caused the leak, admitting that the wells at the Montara site did not meet their own safety standards, they were given another drilling licence while the cleanup operation was still ongoing.

Changes

Even though some of the responses following the Gulf of Mexico spill could be seen as reactionary and heavily tinted with the benefit of hindsight, such extreme scrutiny may be required in order to drive change in this industry.

A Difficult Future

As the oil and gas exploration around the globe moves into more remote, more vulnerable and more technically challenging areas, industry and regulators must recognise that these same places are also making the task of avoiding accidents and responding to spills more difficult.

“What concerns WWF is that in many of these remote places such as the Arctic and coastal East Africa, there will not be a US level response to a significant oil spill. Indeed we may see less than an Australian response,” said Dr Llewellyn

Rethink

“The unacceptable costs of these incidents on the environment, the economy and the community should give us even more impetus to rethink our addiction to oil.”