Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Resources and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—On Friday, 21 August 2009 an uncontrolled release of oil and gas into the ocean and atmosphere occurred from a well on the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea. At the time of the hydrocarbon release, the West Atlas jack-up drilling rig was engaged in well operations through the Montara wellhead platform. A total of 69 personnel were on board the West Atlas drilling rig at the time of the incident and all were safely evacuated by lifeboat to a nearby support vessel and later a pipe-lay vessel in the area that was able to support helicopter evacuation operations to Darwin. The drilling rig was also safely shut down.

Since the evacuation of personnel, the top priorities have been to respond to the oil spill and minimise environmental harm; and ensure a plan is in place to shut in the leaking well safely and quickly. I am pleased to advise that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, AMSA, had mobilised equipment and personnel to respond to the incident within 15 minutes. The response effort was rapid and safely conducted, and is a tribute to all those who have been involved for many years in ensuring Australia’s preparedness to handle an oil spill through AMSA’s National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea and the industry’s Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre. In addition, the oil and gas industry, federal, state and territory agencies have provided their full support to assist the response efforts.

I was able to inspect the impact of the incident personally on Saturday, 29 August as part of a daily aerial inspection that is being undertaken by AMSA. Natural evaporation and weathering is breaking down and dispersing the oil. Dispersants are also being applied from the air and water, and this has been successful in accelerating the breakdown of the oil. The use of dispersants is consistent with international best practice aimed at minimising environmental harm. AMSA is using sophisticated tracking and measuring equipment on its Dornier aircraft, professionally trained observers and satellite tracking buoys in the water to make observations about the size and location of the slick.

The coastal region, reefs and islands are not at risk. The affected area is 170 kilometres from the shore and the slick continues to trend out to sea in a north-easterly direction. The affected area is about 25 nautical miles by 70 nautical miles with a visible sheen and patches of oil covering about 25 per cent of that area. The heaviest patches of oil are less than 10 nautical miles from the Montara wellhead platform. Last Friday, boom and skimmer vessels also commenced recovery operations on site. This will contain more of the oil to the area immediately around the Montara wellhead platform. Dispersant operations will continue to accelerate the breakdown of the oil that cannot be recovered.

The operator of the Montara oil field, PTTEP Australasia (Ashmore Cartier) Pty Ltd, investigated a number of options to shut in the leaking well. Geoscience Australia and my department also assessed a number of options and concurred with PTTEP that the most technically feasible, safest and fastest option was to drill a relief well, intercept the leaking well and stop the flow of oil and gas. A number of companies indicated their willingness to offer drilling rigs either stacked or operating in Australia to undertake this work. I am pleased to advise the House that these were all properly considered from a technical, safety and timing perspective. Again, Geoscience Australia and my department were satisfied that PTTEP’s decision to mobilise the West Triton jack-up drilling rig from Batam, Indonesia, represented the best available option.

The West Triton is currently on its way to the Montara oil field and the best estimate for its arrival is now Thursday, 10 September. While some problems were encountered yesterday while the rig was under tow, PTTEP and all others involved in the response effort must stay focused on safe operations to get the rig on location as soon as possible. Once the rig arrives at Montara, it will take about four weeks to complete drilling and well operations. The best estimate for containing the leak and stopping the flow of oil and gas remains early October. AMSA is well prepared to deal with an ongoing clean-up operation over this period.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, NOPSA, and the designated authority under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006—the Northern Territory Department of Regional Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources—are working cooperatively with PTTEP to assess proposed safety, environment and operational plans before drilling commences on the relief well. The safety of people and the protection of the environment remain our top priorities and the regulators will ensure that appropriate plans are approved before work commences.

Once the well has been safely shut in and the flow of oil and gas has been stopped, the West Atlas will be inspected and there will be a full investigation into the operational, human and regulatory factors surrounding the incident. Most importantly, we want to learn from this incident and take any measures that are necessary to stop it happening again. If the regulatory framework needs to be improved, the government will act decisively to do that. NOPSA has already initiated investigation activities relating to the occupational health and safety of people.

Later this week I plan to also introduce an amendment to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 to provide for a broad-ranging major incident investigation power. Subsequently, I will announce arrangements for an investigation into the Montara incident. The need for both a review of regulatory investigatory powers and consideration of a properly resourced and empowered independent national safety investigation capacity was identified by Kym Bills and David Agostini in the June 2009 report of their inquiry into offshore petroleum safety regulation. This report was released at the meeting of the Ministerial Council on Mineral and Petroleum Resources, MCMPR, in Darwin on 9 July 2009. The MCMPR has undertaken to consult with the industry and respond to the detailed findings and recommendations of the inquiry by the end of November 2009 with a view to introducing appropriate legislative amendments in early 2010. I am determined that we meet this commitment.

Whilst this is the first well blow-out in offshore Australia since 1984 and around 1,500 wells have been drilled safely over the last 25 years, there is no room for complacency. The oil and gas industry is one of the engine rooms of growth in the Australian economy and critical in providing energy security for the nation. It is also an industry that can be hazardous to people and the environment when things go wrong. That is why our industry standards, practices, regulations, operators and regulators must be world class. The Australian community, rightly, expects no less from all of us. I thank the House for the opportunity to make this statement.

I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Groom to speak for 9½ minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent Mr Macfarlane speaking in reply to the ministerial statement for a period not exceeding nine and a half minutes.

Question agreed to.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Minister for Resources and Energy for the update he has just provided to the House in regard to the response that is being implemented following the incident on the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea. The opposition accept the minister’s presentation of the sequence of events and are satisfied that all that needs to be done that can possibly be done to clean up the spill effectively, with the minimum damage to the surrounding environment, is being done. These are never easy situations and we realise that people have an extraordinarily high expectation in regard to the response by both the government and the companies involved. The government is, through its bodies Geoscience Australia and the various other agencies involved, including the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, doing everything it can. Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from this, and I will come back to this a little later in my speech. But for the time being I have to say that I support the minister in thanking the personnel of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority for the high standards they are already displaying in regard to their response.

I also take the opportunity to concur with the minister’s comments that we should never be complacent about the risk of oil well blow-outs. Offshore exploration has long played a critical role in contributing to our national economy and it will continue to do so well into Australia’s future. I note the minister’s statement that this is the first well blow-out offshore since 1984 and that around 1,500 wells have been drilled safely in that time. While any blow-out is one blow-out too many, the reality is, given the scale and involved nature of this type of project, that this is still a very impressive record. However, we should not use that record as an excuse not to maintain even higher standards going forward from here, higher standards based on the experience we gain from the investigation which the minister has foreshadowed that will take place once the first priority of shutting this well down has been achieved.

Whilst there is no room for complacency, we cannot afford to be alarmist. Unfortunately, in the wake of this spill some have chosen to forgo a reasonable and rational assessment of what has happened and instead use the situation as a platform for opportunistic statements, some of which have since been contradicted. For example, on 29 August a statement was issued from Senator Rachel Siewert stating that the oil was sited only 20 kilometres off the coast and would soon hit the Kimberley coast. This stands in stark contrast to statements presented in this House today placing the spill 170 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia. I believe the minister’s figures not only because of his requirements to always speak the truth in this House but I know that they are backed up by Geoscience Australia and the marine safety authority, two agencies of enormous respect internationally. When we hear of statements about the oil slick being 20 kilometres off the coast and another statement the previous day measuring the size of the oil spill from east to west at 180 kilometres, we realise that we are running a risk here of letting the fiction hide the facts. Only the facts will fix this situation. Only the facts can be used to ensure that this situation never happens again. We should not allow those who want to politicise this matter to use the situation for their own political advantage and put at risk our ability to effectively deal with this situation now and the possible recurrence of the situation in the future.

Once the immediate effects of the spill are dealt with, it is prudent to be going forward armed fully with the facts about the circumstances leading up to the spill and the impact it has had and to put in place provisions to prevent a similar situation occurring again. I note that the minister has indicated he will announce arrangements for an investigation into the Montara incident. I also note from his statement that he will introduce amendments to the Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Act 2008 to provide for that broad-ranging major incident investigation power. On the basis that we have confidence in the preparation of those amendments, in principle we will support them when they come to the House. What we must do also is to ensure that we work in company with any state authorities on this matter and ensure that as we go forward we do everything we can to prevent a reoccurrence.