Timor sea oil spill – Sorry seems to be the hardest word
November 6th, 2009Environmental Management 14 Comments
(Slush spilling out from the damaged West Atlas Oil Rig) (Image by Chris Twomey via Wikipedia)
“Sorry” was the hardest word for Elton John, according to his 1976 classic hit.
It also seems to be a pretty difficult word for Jose Martins, Chief Executive Officer of PTTEP Australasia, a subsidiary of Thai oil exploration company PTT Exploration and Production Company Limited.
Mr. Martins’ refusal to apologize (refer article) for what is believed to be Australia’s third-worst oil disaster – the result of a leakage from one of the company’s oil rig’s off the north coast of Western Australia, is simply inexcusable and pathetic.
An environmental catastrophe
The debacle occurred at the site of the West Atlas oil rig, an offshore oil rig which is located in the Timor Sea about 200km off the north west coast of Australia, which is operated by PTTEP Australasia.
As a result of a leakage from the rig, massive amounts of oil began spilling into the sea on August 21. This continued over the course of a ten week period until the company was able to plug the leak by pumping mud into a relief well which was set up for the purpose of intercepting the leaking well (refer article).
Environmental groups say the impact of the spill, which occurred within what is considered to be a key migration route for whales and humpback turtles, could be catastrophic, and the company has acknowledged that it could take as long as seven years to work through the full environmental impact (refer article).
[Along with whales and turtles, many other species, such as spinner dolphins, sooty terns, spotted sea snakes have been observed swimming in the resulting slick in the nearby area.
Biologists have also raised serious concerns about the impact upon birds, marine invertebrates, algae coral and marine algae in the region from exposure to the toxic effects of the leak (refer article)]
“We regret it – but we won’t say sorry
Asked whether or not the company was prepared to apologize, PTTEP Australia’s Martins refused (refer article). Instead, Martins simply stated that “We regret what’s happened,” and that “the rest will have to come out in the inquiry (see below).”
Pathetic.
Mere expressions of regret are appropriate when we are talking about overcharging of customers, shipments of incorrect merchandise or a publicity stunt gone wrong. But they simply do not cut it in cases like this when we are talking about years of serious environmental damage resulting from a nation’s third largest spill on record. Only full and frank apologies are adequate in such cases.
(The inquiry to which Martin refers has been set up by the Australian government to investigate the cause of the spill. The company has also set up it’s own internal inquiry)
Genuine legal concerns …
It is somewhat understandable that PTTEP would not be keen to say a great deal prior to the outcome of the inquiry – lest anything said now backfire later in legal proceedings.
And in that regard, one would imagine that they would have plenty to worry about. Nearby tiny island nation of East Timor is making noises about possible compensation and there are fears about effects within Indonesian waters as well (refer article).There are plenty of areas where litigation could arise over the course of the coming years and the company is understandably coy about making any form of statement which could aid or encourage any litigation efforts.
(More, in a later post, about the need to allow companies to give proper apologies without fear of adverse legal ramifications from any apology given)
.. but surely an apology will be needed anyway
But that is no excuse to delay an apology – not least because a full and proper apology will surely be warranted irrespective of the inquiry outcome.
True, we don’t yet know whether or not this incident was the simply the result of an unavoidable accident or whether negligence was a contributing factor.
But this shouldn’t matter – at least not as far as the issue of an apology is concerned. Let’s look at what we do know for certain:
(1) Beyond doubt – the spillage resulted from leakage from a rig operated by PTTEP
(2) Beyond doubt – the environmental damage is serious and long term.
(3) There are no serious suggestions sabotage or interference from any external party whatsoever.
These facts are not in dispute, and are surely sufficient to warrant a full and frank apology even if the outcome of the inquiry concludes that the company was not negligent.
Delaying tactics on the part of the company in this regard represent extremely poor conduct.
Elton may have found ‘sorry’ a little difficult, but neither the Australian people or people from affected surrounding nations deserve anything less than a full apology from PTTEP.
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