Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 10/25/2010
Indonesia has asked Thai oil-rig operator PTTEP to attend a third round of meetings, during which it hopes the company will agree to pay compensation for an oil spill that allegedly polluted vast swaths of the Timor Sea and Indonesian coastline.
Indonesia has asked for the meeting to be held in Jakarta early next month.
“We have sent them a letter requesting a meeting,” head of Indonesia’s legal team Masnellyarti Hilman told reporters on Friday. PTTEP had not replied to the request as of Sunday evening.
Masnellyarti said Indonesia would give PTTEP until the end of the month to study Indonesia’s
proposal.
She said Indonesia had submitted a catalogue of evidence for damage caused by the oil spill, including satellite images and a map showing impacted areas made by the National Aeronautic and Aviation Agency.
Indonesia’s team has also sent the company new samples of sea water taken in August that contain pollutants caused by the Montara oil spill.
“With the new data, we are confident that our demands based on financial losses are sound,” she said.
She declined to state the amount of financial losses. Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said earlier that Jakarta had demanded the oil company pay US$2.2 billion in damages.
Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said on Friday that the insurance arm of PTTEP would clarify data submitted by Indonesia to determine the total compensation.
An oil rig owned by PTTEP Australasia exploded in August 2009 in the Montara oil field off Australia’s north coast.
The Montara field was developed by Norwegian and Bermudan-owned Seadrill, and was operated by PTTEP Australasia, a unit of PTT – Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas company.
Indonesia’s team presented as evidence maps showing that the oil spill had impacted an area of 70,341 square kilometers in the Timor Sea, including nine Indonesian regencies.
The oil spill also destroyed seaweed farms cultivated by coastal communities in East Nusa Tenggara.
Data from the ministry of energy and mineral resources previously revealed that the hydrocarbons found in water samples taken from the Timor Sea matched those produced at the Montara platform.
The analysis made by Indonesia’s Environment Ministry revealed pollution levels in the Timor Sea had exceeded the tolerable level set by the Indonesian government.
The ministry took sea water samples in five areas in the Timur Sea.
It said the total suspended density (TSS) of particulate matter in the sea had reached 147 milligrams per liter, far higher than the tolerable level of 20 milligrams per liter.
The environmental agency in East Nusa Tenggara also found that pollutant levels in the sea exceeded tolerable levels set by the government.PTTEP said in a previous statement that Indonesia’s team had supplied no verifiable evidence to support its claims.
The oil spill also destroyed seaweed farms cultivated by coastal communities in East Nusa Tenggara.
