News

Montara Incident Summary

26 Sep 2017

• The Montara H1 ST1 well had an uncontrolled release on 21st August 2009.
• All 69 people on the West Atlas drillig rig were evacuated safely.
• About 400 barrels of oil per day spilled to the sea for 74 days.
• The oil spill response coordinated by Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) was succesfull - no oil reached the coastline of Australia or Indonesia. Natural dispersion was aided by the aerial application of limited oil dispersants, and skimming / recovery was used.
• The West Triton rig was mobilized and a relief well was safely drilled.
• The H1 ST1 well was brought under control on 3rd November 2009.
• The Australian Government set up a Commision of Inquiry which reported in November 2010.
• The Commission of Inquiry found that the main causes of the Montara Incident were failure to maintain verified well barriers, lack of personnel competence, failure to follow procedures and limited corporate oversight.
• The Commission of Inquiry made 105 recommendations for PTTEP Australiasia (Ashmore Cartier) Pty Ltd., the Government and industry. One significant recommendation was fot the Minister of Recources and Energy to review PTTEP AA's license to operate.
• Following an independent review by Noetic, the Government’s auditors, the Australian Government decided not to withdraw PTTEP AA’s license to operate, but imposed special title conditions.
• The Montara Action Plan was first developed before the inquiry and subsequently modified when the Commission Report was issued and Noetic did their first review. The company completed all actions under the Plan by the end of 2012.
• PTTEP AA operated under close Government scrutiny by a Deed of Agreement between February 2011 and June 2013, during which time there were five reviews by Noetic. On 21st June 2013, the Minister of Resources and Energy announced the satisfactory conclusion of the Deed and the special title conditions were lifted.
• A Corporate Lessons Learned (CLL) Plan was developed to make sure lessons learned were implemented at the PTTEP corporate level. This was completed in Q3/2012.
• PTTEP AA funded long term scientific monitoring by independent research institutions which had oversight from the Australian Government. All results are  published on the Department of the Environment and Energy website.
• No lasting impacts on the health of any species or habitats were found.

For more information, please visit PTTEP AA's official website : http://www.au.pttep.com/our-business/montara-incident/