A leaking well has been confirmed at a second oil project in the Timor Sea, just 50 kilometres north west of the Montara oil project which has been spewing condensate into the ocean for more than nine weeks.
A leaking well has been confirmed at a second oil project in the Timor Sea, just 50 kilometres north west of the Montara oil project which has been spewing condensate into the ocean for more than nine weeks.
Chinese oil and gas giant Sinopec, which operates the Puffin oil field approximately 440km north west of Wyndham, confirmed to WA Business News that a routine underwater inspection completed early last month had detected a "minor gas leak" from the subsea production tree.
Sinopec Australia general manager projects and operations Steve Kanthan said though the leak was considered minor it had been reported to the relevant authorities, the National Offshore Petroleum and Safety Authority as well as the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry Fisheries and Mines.
"During routine ROV inspection, the Joint Venture became aware of an anomaly in one of the subsea production trees," Mr Kanthan told WA Business News in a written statement. "A minor gas leak from the subsea tree was noted. While this was minor in nature, the occurrence was reported to the relevant authorities, NOPSA and NTDPIFM as per the statutory reporting requirements.
"Remedial action may be required but is not considered to be of an urgent nature."
Sinopec, did not provide further details of the volume of hydrocarbons that had escaped from the subsea production tree or what remedial action may be required to resolve the problem.
However, coming as the world focuses on the far more serious Montara spill, the Puffin leak will attract further scrutiny of oil and gas operations off WA's far north coast.
It also represents a further and unwanted headache for Sinopec which has suffered a string of difficulties since it acquired a 60 per cent interest in the Puffin permits for $US560 million in mid 2008.
Developed by Melbourne-based partner AED Oil, which retains 40 per cent, in 2007, technical problems have consistently prevented the project from meeting its targeted production rates.
In May this year, Sinopec and AED suspended operations and terminated the contract of the production vessel operator due to a number of "material breaches" of its contract. AED last month said the breaches related to "serious matters of occupational health and safety and the environment". The Puffin development involved several subsea oil wells connected to a chartered floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
Puffin was initially intended to produce over 15,000 barrels of oil per day, but produced at less than half that rate during 2008.
Comment is being sought from the relevant authorities in Canberra and the Northern Territory, which is the designated authority for the ACL6 permit in which Puffin is located.
