“Significant” oil spill in Darwin Harbour

OIL has spread from Bladin Point to Larrakeyah

THE Northern Territory Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed there has been a “significant” oil spill in Darwin Harbour.

It’s believed the spill, which has spread over a large part of Darwin Harbour from the Inpex project at Bladin Point to Larrakeyah, may have originated from a ship last night.

The spill was not reported at the time.

NT EPA chairman Bill Freeland said staff from Inpex, the Port Authority and the EPA were working to contain the spill.

Dr Freeland said it appeared the spill was of “heavy, dark, fuel oil” consistent with that which is used by ships. He said it appeared someone had tried to clean up the spill.

“It’s behaving in an odd way, like someone has added a dispersant to it, but we can’t guarantee that’s what has happened,” he said.

Large spring tides had spread the oil around the harbour, leaving a thin film across a large section of the harbour, he said.

Dr Freeland said samples of the oil had been taken in the hopes authorities could “fingerprint” it to determine a source.

There have not yet been any reports of shorebirds affected by the spill.

Darwin Port corporate services general manager Melissa Reiter said the Port Authority was working with the EPA and local operators to contain the spill with booms.

She said the time of the initial spill was unknown. It was reported to authorities at 4am.

Ms Reiter said the spill was “significant”, with no spills of similar magnitude in Darwin in recent memory.