T

he Indonesian government and Thai oil company PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) have agreed to appoint a third party to study potential damages caused by the Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea in August 2009.

The Thai oil company’s executive vice president, Luechai Wongsirasawad, said in Jakarta on Monday that the third party would be appointed to help settle differences over the environmental and economic impacts of the oil spill.

“We have agreed to use a third party which is neutral and has expertise to compare evidence from both sides’ claims,” Wongsirasawad said during a meeting with the editorial staff of The Jakarta Post. He said that the appointment of the third party would be stipulated in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the framework that would be used to settle the differences.

Wongsirasawad said that the draft of the MoU had been ready for signing last month. But the signing was delayed because the PTTEP had to first inform the new Thai government about the latest development in the handling of the Montara oil spill, he said.

“We hope we can sign it soon,” he said, adding that he hoped that the involvement of the third party could settle the disputes over the impact of the oil spill in Indonesia because a series of negotiations which had been conducted following the spill two years ago had failed to settle the problem.

Separately, Masnellyarti Hilman, the chief of Indonesia’s advocacy team said that she hoped the MoU could be signed by the end of this month so that both parties could move forward in dealing with Indonesia’s compensation claim.

“We are waiting for them to sign the MoU by the end of this month,” she told the Post.

Masnellyarti said that the MoU would stipulate, among others, a dispute settlement, a procedure of payment once both sides reached an agreement and also about funds designated for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.

She also said that after the MoU was signed both sides would appoint a team of three people to disseminate information on the developments in the dispute settlement.

PTTEP claimed that the oil spill at the Montara platform off the northwest coast of Australia on Aug. 21, 2009, caused no damages to Indonesia because it did not reach the country’s shores. On the contrary, the Indonesian government has insisted that the 72-day-long oil spill affected nine regencies around the Timor Sea and polluted 70,341 square kilometers of water and coastline.

The Indonesian government has officially demanded US$2.4 billion in compensation from the Thai company for damages related to the oil spill. Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, who is also the head of the national team for oil spill emergencies, has said that the oil spill did not only damage the environment but also caused economic for local fishermen.

Wongsirasawad denounced the demand, calling it unreasonable. He said that no evidence had been found that could be used to support the Indonesian government’s claims.

“It [the amount] is huge. Frankly speaking, we have to pay zero money in compensation because we have seen no evidence,” he said. (rcf)