Minister: PTTEP Once Confessed Guilt for the Timor Sea Oil Spill
15 August 2017 12:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, claims that the Petroleum Authority of Thailand Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) once verbally admitted guilt for the Montara oil rig spill in the Timor Sea.
According to Luhut, the confession took place roughly around 6-7 years ago during the meeting between Hassan Wirajuda, Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Minister, and Freddy Numberi.
Luhut admits that he is yet to be informed whether PTTEP will be providing any compensation or not. He only underlined the fact that there were Indonesian citizens that fell victim to the oil spill. “It was our citizens that suffered,” said Luhut Pandjaitan.
Read: Govt Freezes PTTEP Licenses
The oil spill at the West Atlas drilling Rig from the Montara Wellhead happened on August 21, 2009. The leak spread into Indonesian waters which urged Indonesian officials to sue Thailand's state-owned PTT and PTT Exploration and Production.
In its lawsuit, the Indonesian government is seeking for a Rp27.4 trillion compensation from the companies. It will be used to compensate the damage that the environment endured and its recovery.
In 2016, more than 15,000 citizens of West Timor filed a class action at the Australian court. The citizens consist of seaweed farmers from the East Nusa Tenggara Province who were direct victims of the oil spill incident.
DIKO OKTARA
