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PTTEP Australasia has always accepted responsibility for the 2009 Montara incident. One of PTTEP’s most important responses was to commission the largest independent scientific research program ever undertaken into the Timor Sea environment.

These comprehensive studies clearly show no lasting impact on the highly sensitive and biodiverse ecosystems in the areas closest to Indonesian waters. Satellite imagery, aerial survey images and trajectory modelling concluded that the majority of oil (98%) remained in Australian waters and that no oil reached the Australian or Indonesian coastlines.

We are confident the results of these independent studies would stand up to the highest scrutiny, as would our assertion that it is reasonable to extrapolate from the studies that, if the reefs closest to Montara where the oil and dispersant concentrations were at their greatest did not show lasting impacts, then it is highly improbable that the seas and coastline of Nusa Tenggara Timor would have been impacted.

For more information: http://www.au.pttep.com/sustainable-development/environmental-monitoring/