Indonesian negotiators are expected to soon formally present the amount of compensation the country will claim as a result of the Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea last year.
Gellwynn Jusuf, head of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s Maritime Research Agency (BKRP), said that the state would demand a larger sum than what was previously reported, after it found evidence of widespread damage.
At a House of Representatives hearing in July, transportation minister Freddy Numberi, the lead negotiator for the Indonesian government, said the direct damages resulting from the spill had been estimated at IDR 500 billion (€44.2 million/$55.8 million).
Following this, a government panel travelled to Perth, Australia, to negotiate a compensation deal with Thai-based PTT Exploration & Production, which operated the Montara oil rig that blew out in August 2009.
Gellwynn said their study found that in July this year, the slick covered a 20,000sq km swath of Indonesian waters near East Nusa Tenggara.
By August, he said, the oil spill covered 78,000sq km.
“We’re going to demand more money,” he said. “But we don’t know if we’ll have a new round of negotiations immediately.”
Gellwynn added the damage claim “would take into account all factors, including recovery and rehabilitation for the environment, as well as local residents in 11 affected districts.”
The East Nusa Tenggara administration has said that the government should seek at least twice estimated cost of direct damages to cover the rehabilitation and recovery process.
However, the West Timor Care Foundation, which supports poor fishermen in eastern Indonesia, warned the government against undervaluing its damage claim based on data that might not be credible or accurate.
“The government’s fact-finding team was in the area for three days only, so it’s not likely that it got accurate data,” Ferdi Tanoni, head of the foundation, said. “We shouldn’t be too hasty in seeking out compensation.
“If needed, the [scheduled] meeting should be cancelled to properly evaluate the compensation being sought,” he said.
Ferdi said his organisation had carried out its own survey of the damage caused by the spill in the districts of Rote Ndao, Sabu Raijua, Kupang and East Flores.
The foundation estimated the damage to be worth $15 billion (€11.9 billion).
“We’re calling for [that amount], based in part on the case of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989,” Ferdi said.
“Alaskan residents demanded $5 million (€4 million) in compensation for the 42 million litres of oil that was spilled. The Montara case is far more serious. So there is no way we should settle for just millions of dollars.”
[Source: Jakarta Globe]
