PTTEP MAY NEED 50 DAYS TO PLUG TIMOR SEA RIG

       PTT Exploration and Production said it might take 50 days to stop an oil and gas leak off northwest Australia as marine authorities fight to prevent the slick harming migratory whales and breeding turtles.
       PTT may move a rig from Singapore to plug a well leaking 3,500 metres beneath the seabed, said Jose Martins, a director of the Thai company's Australian unit.
       Oil, gas and condensate started seeping into the Timor Sea last Friday from the West Atlas drilling rig.
       Australia's decision this week on whether to approve Chevron Corp's A$50 billion (Bt1.4 trillion) Gorgon liquefied natural gas project to the south won't be influenced by the spill, environment minister Peter Garrett said yesterday.
       The leak has caused a 30-kilometre light-oil slick off the Kimberley, a region Tourism Australia describes as "one of the world's last true wilderness areas."
       The incident is "potentially going to bring a bit of attention on itself and on the industry," said Peter Arden, a Melbourne-based mining analyst at Ord Minnett, an affiliate of JPMorgan Chase. "Most of the big guys do their work very carefully because they just can't afford a headline like this."
       PTT, Thailand's only publicly traded exploration company, rose Bt7.00 to close at Bt244.00 and its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production edged up Bt1.00 to Bt142.00 as crude oil traded near a 10-month high.
       The company will pay for the cost of dispersing the slick, PTTEP Australasia's Martins said in Perth on Sunday.
       He declined to comment on the risk of the West Atlas rig catching fire, what caused the leak, how much oil or gas may be flowing out, or the related costs. All 69 crew were evacuated on Friday.
       "MARINE SUPERHIGHWAY"
       The area has been dubbed a "marine superhighway", Australian Greens marine spokeswoman Senator Rachel Siewert said on Sunday. "There are populations of baby turtles this time of year, and the area also serves as a migrator route for whales and other marine life."
       The slick is drifting away from the mainland in a northwesterly direction and unlikely to reach the coastline, Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett said yesterday.
       It may still affect the Ashmore Reef, about 840 kilometres west of Darwin and 610 kilometres north of Broome, he said.
       The reef is regarded by the government as a "biodiversity hotspot" because it intersects the bio-geogrphical regions of Australia and Southeast Asia.