West Triton leaves to tackle Montara leak

Two tugs will tow the rig to within about 1.5 nautical miles of the Montara well head platform in the Timor Sea, where the West Atlas drilling rig is located.

It is expected to take 16 days for the West Triton to be on-site and ready to begin drilling a relief well to staunch the oil and gas leak.

The relief well is intended to intersect with the existing well and allow for the injection of heavy mud directly into the well bore to stem the leak.

Alternatives to control the well flow are also continuing to be investigated by PTTEP with an emphasis on safety and technical feasibility.

The company is sourcing alternative aircraft, possibly a Boeing 747 freight plane, to fly equipment from Singapore to Darwin to deluge the Montara well head platform and the West Atlas to make them safe.

Once the equipment has arrived in Darwin and subsequent to safety evaluation, deluge activity on site should start within four days.

Additional equipment has also been sourced from Exmouth and Melbourne.

The equipment will be fitted to one of PTTEP’s work vessels in Darwin before returning to the Timor Sea for surface spraying of dispersants to support the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) airborne operation, the drilling company said.

PTTEP said it was covering the costs of the AMSA oil dispersal operations.