Inferno continues on Timor Sea oil rig

A fire that has raged overnight onboard a leaking oil rig in the Timor Sea will not
be put out until Tuesday morning, project operator PTTEP Australasia says.
"Due to safety concerns, the company will not be in a position to attempt to kill
the well and stop the fire until tomorrow morning," the Thai-based company said in a
statement on Monday.
PTTEP reported on Sunday morning that a fire had broken out on the West Atlas rig,
situated above the Montara wellhead platform.
The blaze erupted as the company was successfully intercepting a leaking well that
has been spewing oil and other hydrocarbons into the Timor Sea for the past 10
weeks.
PTTEP chief financial officer Jose Martins said told reporters that while he could
not be certain, the fire was likely to have been started by the process of pumping
heavy mud into the well.
"The best and safest way to stop the fire is to 'kill the well' by pumping heavy mud
into the leaking well from the West Triton rig," Mr Martins said in a statement.
"The mixture of heavy mud is designed to backflow along the leaking well, stopping
the flow of oil and gas at the surface of the H1 well, cutting off the fuel source
for the fire at the well head platform.
"This should kill the well and should stop the fire."
Mr Martins said teams on nearby vessels had reported oil was no longer spilling into
the Timor Sea.
"Most of the oil would appear to be burning in the fire," he said.
The cantilever deck had collapsed onto the wellhead platform, Mr Martins said.
The condition of the rig would not be able to be assessed until the well was killed
and the fire was put out, giving it a chance to cool down.
Efforts to plug the well had been delayed until Tuesday because the 4,000 barrels of
mud required to plug the well were not available on Monday.
Mr Martins said further attempts may be necessary and could be attempted again
within a day.
"If we don't do it the first time we can still have another go, just rework the
density of the mud," he said.
The company would know within hours of Tuesday's attempt if it was successful.
Best practice was being used in efforts to kill the well, Mr Martins said.
"It may not seem like best practice ... but I can assure you it is," he said.
Mr Martins said PTTEP was happy with the response from the federal government and
the industry despite calls from the Greens for Resources Minister Martin Ferguson to
step down over the handling of the incident.
The incident and the failed attempts to kill the well were personally frustrating,
Mr Martins said.
"We've got a very tough situation in the office at the moment, everyone is obviously
pretty tired, it's been a long time but we've got a job to do and we need to get on
with it," he said.
Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says PTTEP will be disciplined if found
to have breached any industry practices.
"If (PTTEP) are found to have been at fault with respect to any of their
responsibilities then any potential action will be appropriately considered at the
time," Mr Ferguson told reporters on Monday.
He said some of the world's leading experts were working to drill into the well and
plug the leak.
The government will conduct an inquiry into the spill once the fire is extinguished
and the leak is finally plugged, Mr Ferguson said.
A survey released on Friday suggested hundreds of marine animals were at immediate
risk because of the spill but Mr Ferguson said it was "too early" to assess any
long-term environmental impacts.
The Greens called for Mr Ferguson's resignation over his handling of the emergency,
describing the minister as a "parrot" of the oil industry.
"Just allow those involved in the dangerous, delicate operation to get on with the
job of plugging the well free of political gamesmanship," Mr Ferguson urged.
With 1,500 wells drilled in Australia since 1984, he said the spill represented the
first major accident in a dangerous industry.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he is "deeply disturbed" by the leak.
"Do I think this is acceptable? No I don't," he told Fairfax Radio Network.
"Are we angry with this company? Yes we are. Are were trying to do everything we can
to get this under control? You betcha."
He said he would be "very, very mindful" of the findings from a forthcoming
investigation into the incident in terms of its impact on the government's future
leases to the company.