Environmental catastrophe in the 'Amazon submarine'

The services of extinction have doused the flames in two structures of the public petroleum Thai PTTEP in the Timor Sea after finally achieving contain an oil spill that began last Aug. 21. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the landfill covers over 10,000 square kilometers in the heart of the Coral Triangle, an area of six million square kilometers between Asia and Oceania to the experts call the 'Amazon submarine'.

For nearly 10 weeks have spilled into the sea about 400 barrels of oil daily. "This disaster has caused damage to the marine ecosystem and left a legacy with which we have to deal in the future," said Sen. Australian Green Party, Rachel Siewert.

The fire originated four days ago, precisely when the work carried out to stop the oil slick, and there are still some small pockets assets. The flames reached hundreds of meters to two nautical miles from the drilling rig and platform located in the West Triton deposit in the Timor Sea, separating Australia from Indonesia.

Thousands of gallons of sludge injected into the well-managed West Atlas-fourth attempt to plug the huge landfill that fed the fire, as announced by Jose Martins, PTTEP spokesman Australasia. "We are relieved and grateful for having stopped the spill and fire, but we still have much work to do and our priority now is to determine how to plug the well," Martins said in a statement.

The oil slick reached the territorial waters of Indonesia and endangered marine biodiversity and fisheries in the protected area of Sea Savu, home to several endangered species of turtles, dolphins and whales. According

PTTEP's shares on the Bangkok Stock Exchange tumbled this week when it became clear that the company may not, at present, extract 35,000 barrels of crude oil expected to draw from their wells in the Timor Sea.