PTTEP ready to face RI?s $2.1b lawsuit

Thai-listed integrated energy company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited plc (PTTEP) said it has received the Statement of Claim filed by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry seeking approximately US$2.1 billion for damages over a 2009 oil spill incident in the Timor Sea.

?The company will proceed to defend against this lawsuit,? PTTEP said in a statement on Tuesday.

?The company maintains our position, based on the independent scientific research overseen by the Australian Government, that no oil from Montara reached the shores of Indonesia or Australia and that no long-term damage was done to the environment in the Timor Sea,? it added.

As has been previously reported, the Indonesian government had on May 3 filed a lawsuit against PTTEP Australasia and two affiliated firms with the Central Jakarta District Court over a 2009 oil spill incident in the Timor Sea.

Government officials said that the lawsuit was made against the companies as they have not shown good will in providing compensation for environmental damages caused by the oil spill, which was triggered by the Montara rig explosion in the Timor Sea but the effect of which reached coastal areas in East Nusa Tenggara Province.

The government demands the companies to pay compensation to help restore the affected environment at three local coastal villages in East Nusa Tenggara.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak