LEAKING TIMOR SEA OIL RIG CATCHES FIRE

HUGE FIRE BURNING DUE ENDLESS
LEAK FUELLING OIL RIG IN TIMOR SEA

SYDNEY - (Reuters) - An oil rig operated by a unit of top Thai energy firm PTTEP in the Timor Sea, which has been leaking for 10 weeks, caught fire on Sunday, officials said. The West Atlas rig operated by PTTEP Australasia, a unit of PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) (PTTE.BK), started leaking on Aug. 21 and efforts to stop the leak have failed. PTTEP finally stopped the leak on Sunday, but as it was trying to fill the hole with heavy mud, the West Atlas rig and Montara wellhead platform caught fire, said Australian officials. All workers were safe and were being evacuated from the rig, more than 200 km (125 miles) off the northwest Australian coast. "Current operations are focused on reducing the intensity of the fire," said Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson. He said the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority had been called out to help fight the fire and that Geoscience Australia and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority were on standby. The leaking rig was due to start commercial operations this month.

The Montara field could be one of the main sources of profit for PTTEP in the second half of this year as many analysts expect higher output from new oil and gas fields to boost its sales. "This spill has been a disaster from the outset," Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said on Sunday. "Coupled with the environmental impacts of the oil entering the ocean, the potentially hazardous effects of the dispersants being used and the threat to fisheries both here and in Indonesia, now we have a fire on our hands."

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Man is therefore suffering due to his insatiable desires and lusts. Not only is man suffering, but the planet on which he resides, his mother earth, represented in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam by mother cow, is also suffering. Once a well-known swāmī in India was asked whether God or providence is responsible for the sufferings of humanity. The swāmī replied that these sufferings were all God's pastimes or līlā. The questioner continued to ask why a living entity should be put under the dictations of the law of karma. The swāmī could not answer these questions to the satisfaction of his inquirers. The monists and impersonalists who think only in terms of the oneness of the living entities with the Supreme Lord cannot give satisfactory answers to such questions. Such an imperfect reply can hardly satisfy the heart of a living entity.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Elevation to Krishna Consciousness"
Chapter 2: "Hard Struggle for Happiness"