Leaking Aussie oil rig bursts into flames

Published on November 1st, 2009

‘Disaster movie’: fire breaks out on leaking oil rig – The Age

Environmental groups say the oil leak spilling into the Timor Sea should be declared a national emergency, with one expert likening it to a ”disaster movie”.

The situation has worsened in the last 24 hours with a fire breaking out on the deck of the West Atlas rig and Montara well head platform, when the company responsible for its operation began to plug the rig’s leak below the sea bed with mud.

This thing has been leaking for months and hideously polluting the ocean, with the rig’s owners seemingly incapable of plugging it. How did the Australian government chastise them? They rewarded them with new licenses. Now it’s leaking AND on fire. What an absolute disgrace.

17 users responded in " Leaking Aussie oil rig bursts into flames "

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# 1 Byron said, on November 1st, 2009 at 5:46 pm

insurance scam… the company had tried to fix an oil leak which has been leaking since august and failed seven times… oh it just burst into flames… how unfortunate!

# 2 moondawg said, on November 1st, 2009 at 5:51 pm

http://tinyurl.com/ybpdsnv

They just need to tow it out of the environment, obviously.

# 3 Jägermeister said, on November 1st, 2009 at 6:06 pm

Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to light farts on an oil rig….

# 4 sargasso said, on November 1st, 2009 at 6:33 pm

Business as usual, I’m afraid, for Australian oil and mineral exploration.

# 5 McCullough said, on November 1st, 2009 at 7:43 pm

Good post honeyman…for some reason didn’t see this on the CBS News. Hmmmmm….

# 6 MikeN said, on November 1st, 2009 at 8:05 pm

How much oil seeps into the ocean naturally?

# 7 bill said, on November 1st, 2009 at 9:11 pm

How does OIL become so toxic? I mean it’s made from organic plant stuff isn’t it?

Usually if you put a pile of green stuff to rot/cook whatever it’s called green tea… or something like that not an environmental disaster?

Just wondering…

[Oil and wildlife don't mix - ed.]

# 8 the Grim Peeper said, on November 1st, 2009 at 9:30 pm

I wonder if this wasn’t so much an accident, more likely some form of sabotage or terrorism. Given the remoteness of the site, we would never know if it was attacked. I imagine it would be quite an easy target.

# 9 StoopidFlanders said, on November 1st, 2009 at 9:38 pm

I’m going to start composting in the passenger seat of my $100k+ greenie-mobile, covered in anti-Bush bumper stickers, screaming at Hummer drivers, while eating nothing but tofu and listening to leftist proaganda radio. Do you think that will make it all better?

# 10 Somebody said, on November 1st, 2009 at 10:12 pm

Crikey!

# 11 Glenn E. said, on November 2nd, 2009 at 2:46 am

This probably wasn’t reported by CBS News, because it might depress Oil Stock prices. Which have been rising, recently. Instead we’ve only been hearing about the flu, Michael Jackson and balloon boy. Never mind reporting about that oily mess down under. Rupert Murdock wouldn’t approve.

# 12 Glenn E. said, on November 2nd, 2009 at 2:56 am

The Oil industry does everything as cheaply as possible. This probably isn’t the only rig that leaks oil. But it’s cheaper to pay off the news media from reporting it, than to fix the problem. So you never see video of rigs, with an oil slick trailing away from them. The industry owns all rights to their media exposure. I’m surprised this satellite image was even allowed. Apparently the leak, was leaked. Or whoever had the job of censoring the satellite photos, was out with the flu.

# 13 jescott418 said, on November 2nd, 2009 at 5:00 am

You did not see this on US news because we are too worried about the H1N1 killing everyone on earth! The US media is so bad these days I don’t even get most of my news from them anymore. They are so biased and are influenced by what will get them the most ratings!

# 14 Rufus said, on November 2nd, 2009 at 5:03 am

Crickey, that’s a huge barbie!

# 15 Bob said, on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:30 am

The reason you did not see this on CBS news, is simple. It happened in Australia, and will have almost no effect on gas prices. Hence Americans by and large do not care.

Its not some grand conspiracy, or anything like that. I bet its big news in Australia and New Zealand though, since its right next door, and will effect them.

Why is it that people see conspiracy theory’s everywhere when their is a much more simple explanation?

# 16 deowll said, on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm

Well if the oil and gas burns off it doesn’t end up on the beaches but I’d say these guys aren’t making much money doing this.

# 17 Mr. Fusion said, on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:20 am

Very much ado about a small thing.

Yes all oil rigs leak. Most rigs though takes great pains to minimize all leaks and clean them up as soon as possible.

Yes, sometimes oil rigs have a difficult time stopping an oil leak from underground. There are many possible explanations of why they are leaking and the reason is not known in this case.

The granting of licenses is not tied to each individual performance. There is nothing to indicate that this rig fire is not an aberration. Punishing the company for a “shit happens” incident is foolish.

Now, having said all that. I do not like the idea that we have to drill off shore. Accidents do happen and the results can be serious. The best way to stop these accidents is to reduce our consumption of oil so we don’t need to drill off shore.

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