Warning: Oil Rigs Terror Targets

October 15, 2003
By John Kerin

OIL and gas platforms in the Timor Sea are vulnerable to attack by terrorists, and Australia's naval and air patrols are failing to protect the area.

This warning is contained in a damning navy think-tank report, which says oil and gas installations in the Joint Petroleum Development Area "are vulnerable to attack".

"The amount of resources contained in the (JPDA) and their importance to Australia, East Timor and also indirectly Northeast Asia and the United States means they are potential targets for terrorist organisations wishing to interrupt petroleum supplies," says the Navy Sea Power Centre report on the development area, 500km north of Darwin, which is jointly administered by Australia and East Timor.

The report, by the Defence Department's Matthew Flint, says taxpayers can expect to reap as much as $2 billion from the ConocoPhillips Bayu-Undan gasfield, expected to come on line in a fortnight.

Woodside's yet-to-be-developed Greater Sunrise field is expected to yield a further $4 billion. Just outside the area is Australia's biggest oil-producing field, the BHP-owned Laminaria Corallina.

The report warns that the importance of the petroleum industry has been recognised by al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups in Southeast Asia.

An attack on the oil tanker MV Limburg near Aden in October last year represented the "beginning of maritime terrorism against the petroleum industry", with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declaring terrorists had hit the "umbilical cord and lifeline of the crusader community".

The Philippines-based Moro Islamic Liberation Front has mounted several attacks on shipping, while pirates believed to be members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had hijacked an Exxon Mobil supply ship near a North Sumatra oilfield in Indonesia.

"Attacks by maritime terrorists with a domestic focus have been occurring in the Southeast Asian region for the last 10 years," the report says.

"Organisations such as MILF and GAM are not linked to international terrorism. However, domestic-focused attacks in eastern Indonesia may have security implications for the Timor Sea.

"The JPDA could itself become a target, particularly if the Free West Papua Organisation decides to employ terrorist methods to pursue its goal of independence from Indonesia.

"Early detection and neutralisation of hostile craft remains the most effective way to guarantee the safety of the (area)."

The report suggests security could be upgraded by enforcing exclusion zones around the platforms, increasing radar surveillance and through extra naval and air patrols. It also suggests ships and patrol boats dedicated to border protection and stopping people-smuggling should be redeployed.

But a spokeswoman for Defence Minister Robert Hill said last night it was "the Australian Government's role to protect Australian interests onshore and offshore ... and we do that".

The Australian

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