Increasing Risk of Oil Spill on the Southern Coasts of Timor and Rote Islands in the Arafura and Timor Seas: Potential Implication of the 2018 Maritime Boundary Treaty between Australia and Timor-Leste
2022; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês
10.2139/ssrn.4066363
ISSN1556-5068
Autores Tópico(s)Arctic and Russian Policy Studies
ResumoArafura and Timor Seas (ATS) region is one of the highly productive seas with primary productivity of more than 300 g C m2/yr. The region’s high productivity sustains the four littoral countries’ fisheries that provide livelihoods for millions of people in the region. The region also boasts high marine biodiversity as a part of the coral triangle and rich marine minerals and oil deposits. Due to the rich resources of ATS Region, the region is suffering from various environmental issues such as IUU fishing, over-exploitation of resources and high risk of oil spill, among others. Oil extraction activities at the off-shore drilling platforms are considerably high and expected to be heightened due to increasing oil well exploration in near future. The newly concluded Maritime Boundary Treaty between Australia and Timor-Leste (2018) has laid foundation for the accelerated development of oil wells in the formerly known as Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) under Timor-Leste’s territorial jurisdiction. Rapid development of the Greater Sunrise and Buffalo oil fields pose heightened risk of oil spill. A series of simulations of oil sleek movement from the imaginary oil spill accidents at the Buffalo field using NOAA’s GNOME proved that the southern coasts of Rote and Timor Islands will be heavily affected by the spilt oil due to the current movement in the ATS region. In order to develop preparedness and response capacity of the region, it is recommended that a Regional Contingency Plan be developed in the ATS region.
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