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View all search resultsIndonesia to seek extra damages over 2009 Montara oil spill
The government is preparing an environmental lawsuit demanding Rp 27.4 trillion in additional compensation from PTTEP Australasia over the environmental destruction caused by the 2009 Montara oil spill.
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T
he government is planning to seek around Rp 27.4 trillion (US$1.75 billion) in additional damages for the environmental destruction resulting from the 2009 Montara oil spill caused by PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) Australasia, officials said on Thursday, bringing the 13-year-old case to a new phase.
The announcement was made after PTTEP Australasia had agreed to pay a settlement of A$192.5 million ($129 million) to some 15,000 seaweed farmers in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province who were affected by the oil spill.
“We don’t want [PTTEP Australasia] to just pay compensation. They also have to restore the environment. The payment was only compensation for the farmers,” Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said during a joint press conference in Jakarta on Thursday.
PTTEP Australasia, a subsidiary of Thai oil production company PTTEP, was operating the Montara wellhead platform in the Timor Sea off the northern coast of Western Australia, when it experienced a blowout on Aug. 21, 2009 and spilled thousands of barrels of oil and gas into the sea over a period of 74 days.
It was one of Australia’s worst oil disasters, and brought with it irreparable damage to parts of neighboring Indonesia’s marine ecosystem.
Advocates for the victims have alleged that Australia’s then-resources and energy minister Martin Ferguson downplayed the environmental impacts of the oil spill, citing a report by the Montara Commission of Inquiry that quoted a baseless statement from PTTEP Australasia on the daily volume of oil spillage.
The West Timor Care Foundation, an Indonesian nonprofit, published documentation on the disaster that had affected the livelihoods and health of 300,000 coastal residents in NTT. The spill was also believed to have caused long-term damage to uncharted tropical habitats as well as the local tourism, fisheries and pearl farming industries.
