Blaze at leaking Australian oil rig ‘contained’

SYDNEY – A blaze at an oil rig off Australia was brought under control yesterday when experts managed to plug a leak that has spewed tonnes of crude over the past 10 weeks, the well’s operator said.

PTTEP Australasia said its fifth attempt to plug the leak had been successful and it had stopped the main fire at the wellhead platform.’The fire at the West Atlas rig at Montara wellhead platform has been put out after heavy mud had been successfully injected into the leaking well,’ the company said in a statement.The company said the situation appeared to be stable and the well pressure was being maintained.The rig, some 250 kilometres off the coast, caught fire on Sunday during an attempt to stop the leak, which has dumped thousands of barrels of oil into the Timor Sea since it began gushing into the water on August 21.The government has ordered an inquiry into the emergency while environmentalists have expressed concerns about the pristine waters off the northwest coast, which are home to whales and dolphins.Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson earlier said the accident, the first on such a scale in 25 years of offshore drilling, had ‘clearly had an impact on the standing of the oil and gas industry in Australia’. – Nampa-AFP