Australia flies in aircraft to break up oil slick

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said 50 tonnes of dispersant were being prepared to try and contain the spill from a rig in the Timor Sea. A C-130 Hercules aircraft was flown in from Singapore, and two back-up aircraft readied.

"This leak has occurred in one of the remotest locations possible, making any operation difficult," the agency, which is coordinating the clean-up operation, said in a statement.

It was too early to determine the full impact, it said.

Rig operator PTTEP Australasia, a unit of Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL, has said 40 barrels of oil leaked in the initial incident on Friday.

However, the well was still gushing oil on Saturday and emergency services said stopping it was a priority.

"AMSA is working with the company and has stressed the urgency to repair the well head and stop the oil flow and PTTEP has initiated actions to achieve this," the statement said.

Agency spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins told Reuters the slick was about eight nautical miles in length and about 30 meters (yards) wide, and appeared to have stabilized in size, suggesting the oil was evaporating at about the same rate it was leaking.

Aerial surveys had been made and the first dispersant was likely to be sprayed on Sunday, she said.

A senior PTTEP Australasia company official said a team of international experts had been engaged to figure out how to stop the flow of oil, but at present it was too dangerous to send people back on the rig. Chief financial officer Jose Martins said the company would pay all the clean-up costs and promised to minimize environmental impact.

A report from the team on a possible plan of action was expected by Monday, he said.

The spill began on Friday at the West Atlas mobile offshore drilling unit owned by Norway's SeaDrill Ltd.

Australia's official overseer for the petroleum industry, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA), is investigating the incident.

A national clean-up plan has been activated to deal with the spill, which occurred at the Montara development, a project due to come on stream later this year.

The location has been given as about 250 km (155 miles) off the far north Kimberley coast of Western Australia state, and 150 km south-east of Ashmore Reef, a small Australian offshore possession.