Australian oil well to gush for nearly two months

A leaking Australian oil well is likely to pour oil into the Timor Sea for nearly two months before it can be stopped, the operator said on Sunday, as environmentalists expressed grave fears for rare wildlife.

Rig operator PTTEP Australasia said it planned to drill a relief well and pour mud to stop the leak, which began on Friday with a blow-out more than three kilometers (two miles) deep.
It would take 20 days to bring a new offshore drilling rig by barge from Singapore, plus four weeks to drill, the company said in a statement.

Asked if this meant the well would flow for nearly two months, a company spokesman told Reuters: “That is pretty much the estimation.”

Environmentalists have expressed concern about the giant slick, saying the entire area is ecologically significant and part of an “ocean super highway” for migrating animals between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Many breathe air and could surface in the oil, an official of WWF Australia said.

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