Oil spill in Timor Sea is causing ‘massive marine disaster’. By Anne Barrowclough in Sydney

Via: Times Online.

A major marine disaster is unfolding in the Timor Sea, where millions of litres of oil are pouring into the ocean from an oil well that ruptured over two months ago, warn environmental experts.

The first scientists to survey the effects of the ruptured West Atlas oil rig 125 miles (200 km) off the West Australia coast have described it as a “massive environmental disaster” and compared its long term effects to those of the Exxon Valdez disaster, the devastating oil spill off the Alaskan coast in 1989.

The Montara rig, operated by PTTEP Australasia, has been leaking oil for nine weeks, since it ruptured on August 21.

Environmentalists have expressed their concern for marine and bird life in the area since the rig first ruptured but because it is so far off-shore, scientists have been unable to survey the area and details of the damage to the local environment have remained vague.

But Dr Gilly Llewellyn, who led a World Wildlife Fund team on a three day survey of the oil lick told The Times: “We were in an area that is teeming with marine life and we literally found ourselves in a sea of oil that reached as far as we could see.

“It was sickening because we were seeing dolphins surfacing in the oil and birds feeding in it,” she said.

‘We’ve built a picture of an area affected by a massive contamination event and a rich marine wildlife that was interacting in and around the area of the slick and presumably becoming affected and at risk of contamination from this slick,” Dr Llewellyn added.

PTTEP estimates that 3-400 barrels of oil a day are pouring into the ocean, but the Australian Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism said on Thursday the leakage could be as much as 2,000 barrels a day.

Thanks to calm weather conditions, the huge oil spill has not yet moved close to coastal waters, but conservationists estimate it is covering an area of at least 15,000sq km – 100 times the size of Sydney Harbour.

But Dr Llewellyn said its distance from shore meant the impact of the slack was at risk of being ignored by scientists and the population as a whole. “If this was closer to shore there would be global outrage,” she said.

“We are not seeing large amounts of birds dying but this will have a serious long term impact.

“This is a slow and silent killer. Effects of the Exxon Valdez disaster are still being seen 20 years later, so we can expect this environmental disaster will continue to unfold for years to come.

“While we were out there we saw hundreds of birds that were feeding in the water and skimming off (oil) particles. It will get into their feathers and into their digestive systems.

“It builds up over time and produces chronic long term effects.”

Attempts have been made to clean up the slick with dispersants but scientists are concerned that this will only add to the toxicity levels in the area.

Simon Mustoe, head of the Ecology Group for the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand said: “It’s essentially moving the problem from the surface to beneath the sea, which supports a wealth of marine life.”

Dr Llewellyn said: “I’m very worried about what is happening under the surface. The dispersant doesn’t make the oil go away, it just puts it into the water course.

“There are sensitive marine habitats out there with pinnacle reefs, fish populations and coral reefs. In October there is a major coral spawning event and if that coral spawn comes into contact with toxic oil it is bound to have an effect on future generations of corals.

“We could see a major eco-system affected, from dolphins and sea snakes right through to fish and the corals that make up the nuts and bolts of the local environment.”

This week PTTEP reported high levels of mortality among the oil-affected sea birds, with 16 out of 25 birds that had landed on Ashmore Reef, 125 miles (200 km) away from the well head, dying.

Although the numbers are not large, the distance from the well head means these are just the birds that have survived to travel so far, and could indicate much higher rates of mortality, said Dr Llewellyn.

The leak, more than a mile and a half (2.6 km) under the sea’s surface, has proved extremely difficult to plug. PTTEP has so far made three attempts, towing another oil rig from Singapore to pump in heavy mud to block it.

However it is a hugely complicated undertaking; PTTEP has drilled a relief well under the seabed, where, using electro-magnetic ranging tools, it is trying to intercept the 25cm wide casing of the leaking well. Once it has done this, it will fill the leaking pipe with heavy mud and concrete.

Experts have described the task as similar to attempting to put a thread through the eye of a needle a mile under the sea.

PTTEP said in a statement today that the drilling team had come within centimetres of its target and the latest attempt, which begins today and will last about a week, is expected to be successful.

The conmpany has agreed to pay the government’s clean-up costs.

Peter Garrett, Australia’s Environment Minister said he was confident everything possible was being done to stop the oil leak.

“The fact of the matter is, it’s a fiendishly difficult exercise to try to get this oil spill stopped,” he said.

“I’m concerned about it, but we’ve put a lot of measures in place not only to monitor it, but to make sure that any wildlife that’s affected is properly treated,” he added

Earlier this week, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the cost of the clean-up had reached more than $5 million.

An Environment Department survey on the impact of the slick is expected next week.