It has been roughly 10 years since an explosion rocked a rig operated by PTTEP Australasia, a subsidiary of the Thai oil production company PTT, causing hundreds of thousand of barrels of oil and gas to spill into the sea.

The Australian Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism estimated that more than 2,000 barrels of oil had leaked into the surrounding water each day, until the oil company succeeded in capping the well three months later.

Some of the oil reached Indonesian waters and shores, including Rote Island in East Nusa Tenggara, polluting the sea and affecting creatures living in and around it.

Despite the damage, PTTEP has yet to pay compensation to the government for the oil spill, as well as losses incurred by local residents.

Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister’s undersecretary, said PTTEP had previously asked the government whether it was possible to initiate an out-of-court settlement.

To initiate it, the government demanded the appointment of an independent assessor to take a look at the damage caused by the spill in order to get “a fair value of the damage”.

Previously, Indonesia claimed that the oil spill had damaged at least 1,200 hectares of mangrove forest, 1,400 ha of sea grass meadows, and 700 ha of coral reefs.

These claims have yet to be assessed.

“PTTEP, however, didn’t want to agree to these demands [...] saying it still faced a lawsuit in court.

“Therefore, it wanted to pay US$5 million in compensation through its corporate social responsibility scheme,” said
Purbaya, who also serves as the head of the Montara oil spill task force that was formed by the ministry.

He added that the company’s reluctance forced the task force to immediately turn down the plan to initiate an out-of-court settlement.

Responding to the statement, PTTEP Indonesia general affairs manager Afiat Djajanegara said the company still wanted to do a joint survey with the coordinating ministry to assess the impact of oil spill. “We are still waiting for the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Ministry to approve such plan,” Afiat told The Jakarta Post.

Purbaya said the Indonesian task force was also going to urge the Australian government to take responsibility in resolving the oil spill case by forming a similar task force.

He argued that Indonesia and Australia had ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; therefore, both countries were responsible to address the effect of pollution in the sea, including oil slicks.

“However, we have yet to receive a proper response from our Australian counterparts.

“We will go to Australia to initiate a meeting with their officials regarding the task force,” he said, adding the meeting was slated to run from April 20 to 27.

The task force has also sent a letter to the Cabinet Secretary, asking the latter to inform all ministries and institutions to pay more attention to the Montara oil spill issue.

“Therefore, these institutions will bring up the spill when deliberating cooperation plans with Australia, especially ones related to the environment.”

Thousands of Indonesian seaweed farmers, who were affected by the incident, also filed a class action lawsuit at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney.

Representing around 13,000 fishermen and seaweed farmers, Care for West Timor Foundation lawyer Ferdi Tanone demanded that the company pay compensation amounting to around Rp 2.7 trillion ($200 million) for losses incurred after the leak.

The lawsuit added that the Australian government should also be held accountable for the accident, as it allegedly let PTTEP off the hook.

The next hearing for the lawsuit is slated for May 8.

A verdict was expected to be reached in June, Ferdi said. “I’m optimistic that we will win the lawsuit.”

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