WA: West Atlas oil rig faces fire danger

AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-2009
WA: West Atlas oil rig faces fire danger

PERTH, Aug 23 AAP - The risk of a fire erupting is the biggest danger facing authorities
trying to cap an oil and gas rig spill off Australia's northwest coast on Sunday.

At least one ship has been given approval to use a spray to minimise the fire risk
while a Hercules aircraft, hired by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), will
be allowed to fly near the rig to drop a chemical aimed at cleaning up the spill.

Experts from around the world have been flown in to Perth to devise a plan to cap the
30-metre wide spill that has grown to at least 12 kilometres.

The West Atlas rig, about 250km off the far north Kimberley coast in the Timor Sea,
began spewing oil and gas on Friday morning but started showing signs of stabilising on
Saturday.

Owned by Norwegian company Seadrill and operated by Thai-based PTTEP Australasia, the
rig is now in the middle of a 37km exclusion zone.

The rig was safely evacuated with all 69 workers escaping injury. Another seven initially
stayed behind to deal with the emergency.

It's not known what caused the spill, but it's believed to have occurred in wells up
to 3,500 metres below the rig, PTTEP chief financial officer Jose Martins said on Saturday.

"Because they are so deep, that's why it's difficult to identify what's going on," he said.

"The leak emanates probably from 2,500 metres below the ocean floor and is coming up
through the well platform ... and the West Atlas drilling rig is sitting alongside the
platform."

Mr Martins said there was as yet no means of gauging the extent of the environmental
damage caused by the spill.

AAP sbl/gfr/sn/cdh

KEYWORD: SPILL (FILE PIX AVAILABLE)

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