A government report has blamed the oil rig operator for Australia’s worst ever oil spill.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson told Parliament on Wednesday that the report found that PTTEP Australasia, a unit of Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production Plc., did not observe sensible oil field practices or adhere to government-approved practices at the West Atlas rig and Montara wellhead platform off the northwest coast.
The rig and wellhead platform in the Timor Sea began leaking in August last year. More than 400 barrels of oil a day stained the coasts of Indonesia and East Timor before mud pumped through a relief well shut off the deepwater spigot 11 weeks later.