Eras Poke & Fidelis E Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 27 Jul 10;
Indonesia will turn to national law in the pursuit of a Thai company it holds responsible for a massive oil slick in the Timor Sea last year, an official said on Monday, but it has not ruled out also demanding compensation from the Australian government.
The blowout at the Montara well operated by PTT Exploration and Production, a unit of the Thai energy giant, took place last August 690 kilometers off the northern coast of Australia.
Although the well burst within Australian territorial waters, the leak was only staunched 74 days later, allowing the slick to spread over a large swath of the Timor Sea, intruding deep into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone.
Pursuing charges under Indonesian law allows the government to directly demand compensation from PTTEP on the basis of evidence that the oil came from the Montara well, avoiding a possible lengthy and costly court battle over liability.
“We have checked and the ‘fingerprints’ matched, meaning the samples of the oil spill in the Timor Sea are the same as the oil coming from the company,” said Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, deputy assistant for civil law enforcement at the State Ministry for the Environment.
A copy of the government’s legal standing in the dispute, which was obtained by the Jakarta Globe, said the oil spill had spread to 51 kilometers from Rote Island, inside Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ratified by Indonesia in 1985, stipulates that coastal states have the right to exercise their national law within their exclusive economic zones, Rosa said.
Based on the “polluters pays” principle acknowledged by the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law and by Australian regulations, PTTEP should be liable to pay compensation if it was established that the oil came from its well.
“It’s very clearly stated in the Environmental Protection and Management Law that every individual found to have damaged the environment will have to pay compensation,” Rosa said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last week that he was determined to seek compensation for losses caused by the slick, and Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi suggested the government seek at least Rp 500 billion ($55 million) in damages.
Besides the oil company, however, the government is also debating whether the Australian government should also be held to account for the oil spill, as it took place within its territorial jurisdiction.
It was not yet possible to make a final estimate for losses suffered by Indonesia, Rosa said. “We haven’t included that yet [in our demand] because we’re still counting the losses, and it’s not that easy.”
A team of officials from the ministries of environment, foreign affairs, and maritime affairs and fisheries is due to meet with PTTEP over the next few days to deliver its research findings.
West Timor’s Care Foundation, which supports impoverished fishermen in eastern Indonesia, estimates that the spill has affected the livelihoods of some 18,000 people in East Nusa Tenggara, including about 3,500 fishermen.
The rest are seaweed and pearl farmers who also depend on the waters for their income.
Ferdi Tanoni, head of the foundation, said that it had recommended to Yudhoyono that the government seek Rp 140 trillion in compensation.
Indonesia set to demand compensation for oil spill
Adianto P. Simamora and Arghea Desafti Hapsari Jakarta Post 27 Jul 10;
A negotiating team from Indonesia will meet the management of a Thai oil-rig operator in Perth on Tuesday to clarify claims that an oil spill that began last year is damaging areas in the Timor Sea.
It will be the first official meeting between the parties since the PTTEP Australasia oil rig exploded in August 2009 on the Montara oil field off of Australia's north coast.
Indonesia's team will be headed by deputy minister for environmental damage control at the Environment Ministry Masnellyarti Hilman.
The team, set up last week, includes Havas Oegroseno, director general for international treaties and legal affairs at the Foreign Ministry and Gellwynn Jusuf, director general of research at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.
"We will show *the results* of our fact finding *mission on impacts of the oil spill* and compare it with their findings *from PTTEP*," Masnellyarti said Monday.
"We will inform them of our plan to demand compensation from the oil spill. We are ready if they want to resolve it in or out of court."
The team said it was still calculating the total financial losses it would claim from PTTEP, a subsidiary of PTT, Thailand's state-owned oil and gas company.
Indonesia's Environment Ministry said the level of pollutants in the Timor Sea had exceeded tolerable levels set by Indonesian government. The ministry measured the quality of water in five places.
It said total suspended density had reached 147 milligram per liter. The tolerable level is 20 mg/l.
An environmental agency in East Nusa Tenggara said it had found visual and chemical evidence of the oil spill.
"We want to recalculate direct and indirect damages such as how long it will take to restore the damaged ecosystem," Masnellyarti said.
She said that Indonesia would prefer for the case to be settled out of court. "But, we are ready if the company wants to take it to court," she said.
The Montara field was developed by the Norwegian and Bermudan-owned Seadrill, and operated by PTTEP Australasia, a unit of PTT.
The company's oil platform exploded, releasing more than 500,000 liters of crude oil every day into the Timor Sea.
Thirty-eight percent of Indonesia's sea territory in the Timor Sea was affected by the spill, local fishermen's catches dropped and thousands of tons of shallow water fish and many whales died.
The spill also destroyed seaweed farms cultivated by coastal communities in East Nusa Tenggara.
Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi earlier said the government would seek initial compensation of Rp 500 billion (US$54 million) for direct losses from the disaster.
Maritime law expert Hasyim Djalal said that Indonesia could claim three kinds of damages due to the oil spill, including direct damage, consequential damages and environmental losses.
"The environmental damage will be more complicated since it needs assessment. The impacts cannot be calculated within 2 days," he said.
Assistant deputy minister for civil enforcement Rosa Vivien Ratnawati said that the government would use the 2009 environmental law and the United Nations Convention on Law of Sea as a legal basis for the claims.
