PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Australian company causes oil spill

Wednesday, November 17, 1993 - 11:00

Australian oil giant Oil Search has admitted that it caused an oil spill on August 9 between Papua New Guinea and Australia after earlier telling media it was unaware of any such spill. Following an expose in the PNG press, the company issued a statement confirming the spill, which it said occurred while it was loading oil at the Kumul terminal, 40 kilometres offshore. Oil Search reported that some 7000 litres of crude oil leaked into the ocean and that it had all been cleaned. Yet the PNG Post-Courier stated that some 200,000 litres had been spilled and locals reported that dead turtles had been washed ashore.

From GLW issue 681