News Focus: MONTARA OIL SPILL STOPPED BUT CONCERN CONTINUES By Fardah

    Jakarta, Nov. 10, 2009 (ANTARA) - The East Nusa Tenggara authorities seeming to be still concerned about the possible impact of Australia's Montara oil spill, despite an assurance that the leakage has been stopped.

        When Amien Rais, former chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) visited East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), which shares marine border with Australia, he was told about the oil spill and the provincial authorities' concern over the unresponsive attitude of the central government.

        The central government should respond to the previous reports by the NTT provincial administration on pollution in the Timor Sea, senior politician Amien Rais said in NTT's capital of Kupang on Monday (Nov. 9).

        "The response from the central government is important to find a way to prevent a negative impact from the oil spill," Amien said.

        NTT's Environmental Affairs Agency (BLHD) recently confirmed that Timor Sea waters had been contaminated with oil leaked from an explosion at the Montara oil field.

        "Based on samples obtained in a survey conducted by BLHD in four different locations (in the Timor Sea) last October 23, the sea waters is above the national water quality standard in line with the Environmental Affairs Minister's Decree no. 51/2004," NTT BLHD Head Alexander Oematan said in Kupang last October 27, 2009.

        The results of physical analysis conducted at the NTT BLHD laboratory showed that a water sample taken at the coordinate of 11.31.213 degrees southern latitude and 122.59.530 degrees eastern longitude, around five miles of Landu Isle, smelled oily, with turbidity at 165.5 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units), and had an oil layer.

        At the second point at the coordinate of 11.09.372 degrees southern latitude, and 122.56.960 degrees eastern longitude, around 10 miles of Ndana Isle as well as in Rote Ndao District, the water sample also smelled oily, with 569 NTU.

        The chemical analysis also showed that the fat oil content was above the national water quality standard, Oematan said.

        The findings confirmed that the Timor Sea was polluted and efforts should be taken to prevent the destruction of marine species in the area, he said.

        Oil, gas and condensate have been polluting the Timor Sea since an explosion happened at a rig of PTT Exploration & Production Pcl, the operator of the Montara offshore oil field on August 21, 2009.

        The rig is located around 690 km west of Darwin, North Australia, and 250 km northwest of Truscott in West Australia.

        But the Australian Embassy in Jakarta rejected the pollution claim in Indonesia's sea and said only small patches of non-hazardous "weathered oil" had crossed into Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the closest of which was almost 100km southeast of Indonesia's Roti Island.

        "It is highly unlikely that any Montara oil would have come close to Indonesian coastal waters," the Australian embassy said in a statement recently.

        The embassy even announced that the leaking Montara wellhead in waters off Australia's coast had been stopped and the fire was out.

        On November 3, drilling experts succeeded in 'killing' the leaking well and stopped the main fire at the wellhead platform by pumping heavy mud into the leaking well, according to the embassy's statement on its official website on November 4.

        Successful capping of the well did not mean the Australian Government's work in relation to the oil spill would cease. Clean-up operations and environmental assessments would continue, according to the embassy.

        The embassy also said that Australia was discussing with Indonesia a possible visit by a team of Australian officials to Indonesia in early November for talks with Indonesian officials and to arrange further testing of samples.

        On 28 October 2009, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, spoke to the Indonesian State Minister for the Environment, Gusti Muhammed Hatta, regarding the Montara oil spill.

        The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) assessed that the type and amount of oil that had been observed in Indonesia's EEZ poses no significant threat to the marine environment.

        However, despite the Australia's assurance, Amien Rais insisted that the government should set up an investigation team to collect facts to be passed on to Australia as the country responsible for the water pollution caused by the oil spill from an explosion in the Montara oil field recently, he said.

        "Don't underestimate the pollution problem in the Timor Sea which is already widely known by the public, because it concerns the fate of thousands of fishermen and marine biota in the sea," Amien Rais said when visiting Kupang to attend a congress of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

        Tofan Tiro, a legislator who accompanied Amien Rais, even expressed shock about the report on pollution in the Timor Sea. He hoped the central government could take concrete actions to deal with the environmental problem.

        NTT had reported about the Montara oil spill to the central government after establishing a monitoring team consisting of, among others, officers from the Kupang harbor authority, the Kupang naval base, the NTT water police, and the regional environmental impact assessment agency.

        Due to an explosion in the field last August 20 around 500,000 liters of crude had been spilled into the sea.

        Following the incident, fishermen in Oesapa in the district of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, found thousands of dead fish floating in an area at 11-39 degrees southern latitude and 124-30 degrees western longitude in the Timor Sea.

        The fishermen also discovered balls of crude oil in the waters around 20 miles from Tablolong beach, West Kupang, or around 30 miles from Kolbano southern coast of Timor Tengah Selatan.

        "Some of the fish are already in a state of decay. We had taken some to keep for use as evidence but later we threw them back into the sea because we could not stand the smell," Gab Oma (33), a fisherman from Oesapa, Kupang, who had arrived from fishing in the area, told reporters recently.

        He said he, along with 17 other fishermen from Oesapa, had just returned from fishing in Timor Sea waters by boat. "We returned only carrying four red fish compared to usually hundreds in a day and night of fishing," he said.

        Haji Mustafa (34), another fisherman who is also chief of the Association of Timor Sea Traditional Fishermen, said the polluted area was a habitat of the red fish NTT fishermen usually caught.

        "We believe the fish have gone to other areas or died," he said.

        NTT Governor Frans Lebu Raya had earlier demanded responsibility from the oil field operator PTTEP Australasia regarding the pollution.

        "The Australian government, in this case the Montara oil field operator, is responsible for the problem," NTT Governor Frans Lebu Raya said in Kupang last October.

        The oil field is also located near Pasir (Sand) Isle (Ashomore Reef) where Indonesian traditional fishermen often operate.

        Governor Lebu Raya said the oil slick was threatening marine life in the Timor Sea and the company must be responsible for it.

        "We want the central government to immediately respond to the problem," the governor said.

        Some 7,000 traditional fishermen and more than 10,000 coastal communities rely on the Timor Sea and seaweed cultivation for a living. ***3*** (f001/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 16:38. (T.F001/A/F001/B003) 10-11-2009 16:57:16