- One of the biggest challenges in journalism is trying to cover a story you can’t see happening.
Flames from the burning Montara wellhead platform are blown on to the upper superstructure of the West Atlas rig. (PTTEP)
From the very start of the Montara West Atlas oil spill, information was sketchy.
On the day the leak started, there was a statement from the company describing what had happened early that morning, and there was little else.
The company provided no-one for interview and this was a pattern that would be repeated nearly every day for the next 10 weeks.
The crisis fell within the portfolios of at least three federal ministers but on that first day none was available for interview – at least not to talk about the oil spill.
Darwin ABC managed to get an interview with the general manager of the Oil Spill Centre who said dispersant was being flown up from Victoria. Other government agencies shunted reporters to the company for comment.
PTTEP Australasia provided an audio news release, the type of which reporters generally hate using. At this stage, fears were running high that the oil could hit the Australian coast. As it happened, weather conditions and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) speedy response stopped this from happening.
PTTEP took several weeks to bring another rig to the scene. Effectively, not much happened during this period that was new. The story was being reported at a national and local level, and on the internet. During this time, rumours were reported as fact, algal blooms were mistaken for oil patches and people said things they later regretted.
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