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Ministry team examines oil spill in Timor Sea
The Transportation Ministry will conduct an analysis on an oil slick in the Timor Sea in East Nusa Tenggara province, originating from an explosion on an oil rig off Darwin, Australia
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he Transportation Ministry will conduct an analysis on an oil slick in the Timor Sea in East Nusa Tenggara province, originating from an explosion on an oil rig off Darwin, Australia.
"A team from the Timor Sea Pollution command post was dispatched to the Timor Sea on Thursday to take crude oil samples for analysis," Kupang's Tenau Port administration head Pieter Fina on Friday.
He said the team will conduct surveillance in the Timor Sea, the southern section of Timor Island and Rote Island which have been reportedly polluted by the oil spill.
"The team will be in the location for several days while observing and collecting crude oil samples," added Pieter.
According to him, the team was approved by the Transportation Ministry's director general of sea transportation Sunaryo.
"I and Rote Ndao regent Lens Haning have just returned from Jakarta to report the oil spill. The director general has asked the Timor sea pollution command post in Kupang to collect oil samples for further analysis," said Pieter.
The crude oil spill in the Timor Sea took place on Aug. 21. One of the oil platforms in the Australian Montara oil field has been discharging around 500,000 liters, or about 1,200 barrels of crude oil daily.
Four weeks after the oil spill, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) submitted an official report to the Indonesian government mentioning that volumes of crude oil had entered the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone, some 51 nautical miles from Rote Island.
Traditional fishermen operating off Pasir Island found an oil slick resembling a pool around 20 miles from Tablolong beach in Kupand, or around 30 nautical miles from Kolbano, South Central Timor regency.
Last week, fishermen on the coast of Rote Ndao regency started complaining of illnesses as a result of the oil spill that had reached land and damaged thousands of hectares of ready-to-harvest seaweed.
"Seaweed, which is one of the province's prime commodities, has been polluted. If the farmers fail to harvest their seaweed, they would incur losses of up to billions of rupiah," said the West Timor Care Foundation NGO director Ferdi Tanoni.
