Oil-covered protesters demonstrated outside the offices of a Bangkok-based well operator in Perth Thursday 29 October to protest a leaking oil well in the Timor Sea, off the northwest coast of Australia. The well, 2.6km below the ocean floor, has been leaking oil and gas into the sea since 21 August. Concerns are being voiced about responsibility as the slick heads towards the Indonesian coast.
The company, Thai-based PTTEP, has tried three times to plug the leak with heavy mud. A fourth attempt has been delayed because of equipment failure. The cost of plugging the leak is estimated at $160 million. No cost estimates have been made public for the clean up.
The Australian upper house voted 29 October to make public by 16 November a government investigation into the environmental impacts of the spill. The government has come under criticism in recent for several of its environmental policy decisions. ABC, Bloomberg, Sydney Morning Herald
