Yahoo News 27 Oct 09;
SYDNEY (AFP) – A Thai-based firm put off a fourth attempt to stop a major oil leak in the Timor Sea off Australia's northwest coast on Tuesday due to technical problems, some nine weeks after the spill started.
PTTEP Australasia said equipment problems forced a delay until later this week, heightening environmentalists' concerns over the site where up to 2,000 barrels of oil, gas and condensate has been gushing daily since August 21.
"We have previously stated and the industry has acknowledged this is a complex operation," said company spokesman Jose Martins.
"We are attempting to steer accurately a relief well through deep, hard rock formations. This has taken longer than expected for technical reasons and not through a lack of resources or commitment."
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) says thousands of marine animals are under threat from the spill and the chemicals used to disperse it, with 16 seabirds dying and species including dolphins and turtles exposed to the slick.
Environment minister Peter Garrett defended the delay in plugging the leaking Montara wellhead, saying it usually took between three and four attempts to complete such a "tricky and technically challenging" task.
But local conservationists urged the government to take charge of the spill, reportedly Australia's worst in 40 years, and protect pristine ocean environments from potentially damaging drilling activities.
"The Rudd government needs to show leadership and ensure that sensitive marine areas in the Kimberley (region) are not peppered with oil and gas wells," said Martin Pritchard, director of environmental group Environs Kimberley.
"We're talking about one of the world's few remaining virtually untouched oceans. We have an international obligation to protect what remains by putting them in marine sanctuaries," Pritchard added.
The WWF last week warned that wildlife was dying and "hundreds if not thousands of dolphins, seabirds and sea-snakes are being exposed to toxic oil" after surveying the spill area, 250 kilometres (155 miles) offshore.
An official government survey is yet to deliver its findings. PTTEP Australasia has agreed to pay for environmental monitoring of the area for at least two years.
