Oil spill at Cliff Head

UPDATED: West Perth-based oil junior Triangle Energy has revealed a leak at its Cliff Head oil platform, about 300 kilometres north of Perth, although the company said the spill was substantially less than 10,000 litres.

Triangle said a small crack was found in a flow meter on a well was discovered during an inspection on Tuesday morning.

The crack was caused by severe weather and sea conditions, Triangle said, with a mixture of oil and water emitted.

The company said production at the well was shut immediately, and at other wells within half an hour for an engineering investigation.

Regulators such as the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority were notified, and in a statement after close of markets today Triangle said it would continue to liaise with those bodies.

“Triangle is implementing oil pollution mitigation measures and strategies which reduce potential environmental impacts of the spill,” the announcement said.

“The company has activated its contracts with The Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre) in support of ongoing management of the incident.

“At this stage, Triangle is of the opinion that environmental impact will be negligible due to containment on the platform itself and the extreme sea conditions which naturally dissipate this type of fluid.

“The company will continue to implement its OPEP until clean-up measures have been confirmed.

“Triangle can confirm there is no risk to staff safety and it will continue to assess the situation, weather conditions, and impact on environment.”

Triangle took operational control of Cliff Head in March 2017 after gradually upping its stake in the field, including through a March deal with Roc Oil.

At that point, production at Cliff Head had been 1,300 barrels per day.

The Cliff Head wells were drilled about 15 years ago.

Triangle chief executive Robert Towner said on July 30 that its incident management team (IMT) was stood down on July 27.

“Based on our satellite tracking buoy data, trajectory modelling, and in conjunction with the Department of Transport, multiple teams of trained personnel were deployed to cover approximately 20 kilometres of shoreline on foot,” he said. 

“In addition, multiple aerial surveillance flights covered the ocean and shoreline. 

“We are pleased to report that after extensive monitoring, no observations of hydrocarbons have been sighted and we have been able to stand down our IMT.

“This reaffirms Triangle’s belief that the vast majority of produced fluid remained on the platform itself and any amount which entered the marine environment was negligible and most likely dispursed naturally in the rough seas.

“Production at Cliff Head remains shut-in while the appropriate preparations are completed for a restart.”