BANGKOK/JAKARTA: Contradictory claims sit at the heart of a bitter row that reignited between the Indonesian government and PTT, Thailand’s state-owned oil company, last week over a 2009 oil spill in the Timor Sea between Australia and Indonesia.
Reported to be the worst offshore drilling accident in Australian history, it resulted in an estimated 30,000 barrels of oil leaking for 74 days from a well operated by a PTT subsidiary in the Montara oil field.
Nearly eight years on, the Indonesian government has filed suit against PTT and two subsidiaries — PTT Exploration & Production and Australia-based PTTEP Australasia (PTTEP AA), the operator of the oil rig.
The demand is for 27.5 trillion rupiah ($2.06 billion) in compensation for environmental damage and rehabilitation in the Indonesian regions affected. The civil lawsuit was filed at the Central Jakarta District Court on May 3.
PTTEP was fined 510,000 Australian dollars ($37,7101.6) by an Australian court in 2011.
Indonesia said it decided to seek legal redress against PTT after negotiations proved fruitless. Officials say they believe they have sufficient evidence to win.
“At the beginning, we thought there was goodwill from their side, but after several meetings there appeared to be none,” Arif Havas Oegroseno, Indonesia’s deputy coordinating minister for maritime affairs, told reporters on Friday.
According to Oegroseno, meetings were held with PTTEP in 2012 and 2013. The possibility of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was discussed to launch a joint committee to settle the case, but nobody from PTTEP appeared when it was time to sign.
PTTEP has consistently denied any related damage in Indonesian waters. Indonesian officials allege that oil from Montara flowed ashore in East Nusa Tenggara province for 74 days after the explosion that caused the incident.
They cite research from local institutions, including the environment ministry and some universities. The spill allegedly damaged 1,400 hectares of seagrass meadows and 714 hectares of coral reefs offshore from three villages.
