Thai Drilling Firm Asks for Time to Verify Timor Sea $2.4b Oil Spill Damage Claim

Camelia Pasandaran Jakarta Post 30 Sep 10;

Jakarta. The company responsible for last year’s Timor Sea oil spill has received the government’s $2.44 billion compensation claim but would need more time to verify the figures, an official said.

Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, who heads the government team handling the spill, said on Thursday that PTTEP Australasia had agreed to check the claim, worth Rp 22 trillion.

“They’ve asked for time to verify it with their insurer first,” he said. “We don’t mind, because our data is valid and we’re in the process of completing [a document of the supporting data].”

Freddy added he would meet with the rest of his team on Friday to finalize the document before submitting it to PTTEP, the operator of the Montara oil rig which exploded last year.

“After we’ve taken this step, the company and its insurer should discuss the subsequent compensation process,” he said.

The minister added PTTEP can conduct its own tests to verify the claim if it wants to.

“However, testing water samples now would be redundant because much of the oil has dispersed and we’ve also sprinkled chemicals to soak it up,” he said.

Freddy added the government still had the samples and results of the initial water tests taken shortly after the spill in August 2009.

“PTTEP can test it in their labs and they’ll find the results will be the same as ours,” he said.

“If they want access to those water samples, they’re welcome to [access] them.”

The government team presented its claim to PTTEP Australasia, a subsidiary of Thailand’s state-controlled PTT Exploration and Production, in early September.

The firm initially said the Indonesian claim lacked verifiable data, a sentiment echoed by environmental and social activists pushing the government to provide clear scientific evidence to back its claim.

The Montara oil rig, which caught fire off Australia’s northern coast in August last year, leaked about 400 barrels of crude a day before it was finally capped 74 days later.

The slick from the oil spill spread over almost 90,000 square kilometers of Indonesian and Australian waters, according to the environmental group WWF.

The West Timor Care Foundation, which supports traditional fishermen in eastern Indonesia, estimates the spill affected the livelihoods of about 18,000 fishermen.