Days of Black Tide: How Montara Broke a Sea and a People

Days of Black Tide: How Montara Broke a Sea and a People

The Timor Sea took seventy-five days of uncontrolled oil from a wellhead platform that no one could seal, and within eight days the slick had spread to 180 kilometers across - but did the oil ever reach Indonesian coasts 37 kilometers from Rote or remain 94 kilometers away as the operator claimed? This episode opens the contested map of distance, damage, and accountability that still has no clear answer.

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events, the companies and agencies involved, the reported human and economic impacts, and the conflicting measurements that defined the dispute - all centered on the question of who bore responsibility and who paid for lives and livelihoods disrupted by the spill.

Person: PTTEP Australasia (operator) Location: Timor Sea, roughly 250 km north of Truscott airbase Event: Wellhead blowout beginning 21 August 2009, lasting 75 days Field: Montara Wellhead Platform, 76 meters water depth Loss estimate: AU$318 million to AU$382 million (East Nusa Tenggara provincial government)

- 69 workers evacuated the morning the Montara well blew; none were injured. - Within 3 days the oil slick stretched 14 kilometers long and 30 meters wide. - Within 8 days the slick had grown to 180 kilometers across. - Five attempts were made to close the well; there was one fire and one broken towline. - The post-incident fine imposed was AU$510,000.

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