Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- AED Oil Ltd., China Petrochemical Corp.’s partner in the Puffin venture in the Timor Sea off northwestern Australia, said a gas leak from the project is having no impact on the environment.

The field isn’t spilling any oil, AED Company Secretary Trevor Slater said by telephone in Melbourne today. The leak was reported Sept. 10 and is “of a minor nature and poses no threat to the safety of people or the environment,” Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said in a statement.

Puffin lies about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of the Montara field, operated by PTT Exploration & Production Pcl, which has been leaking oil and gas for 10 weeks. The Bangkok- based company will make a fourth attempt to plug the well off Western Australia’s Kimberley coast this weekend. Puffin isn’t currently in production, AED’s Slater said.

“It literally is less than a pin hole in size,” he said. “It’s not having any environmental impact.” Sinopec Group, as Beijing-based China Petrochemical is known, last year paid A$600 million ($550 million) for a 60 percent stake in the venture.

AED, which has slumped 43 percent this year in Sydney trading, rose 2.7 percent to 58 Australian cents at 1:13 p.m. in Sydney, compared with a 1.5 percent gain in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index.

‘Routine Inspection’

The Northern Territory’s Department of Regional Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources, and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, were notified of the leak on Sept. 10, Ferguson said. A routine inspection of the subsea equipment revealed the fault, he said.

“The gas leak was identified by a small number of bubbles emanating from the vicinity of subsea equipment,” Ferguson said in the e-mailed statement. “The gas leak is not a well leak and no oil is, or can, leak.”

The world’s largest population of humpback whales, estimated at about 22,000, is found along the Kimberley coast, according to a May-September survey conducted by whale experts Richard Costin and Annabelle Sandes. Tourism Australia has described the region as “one of the world’s last true wilderness areas.”

A further three attempts to halt the Montara spill may be required, with each pass taking about four days, Jose Martins, PTTEP Australasia chief financial officer, said in Perth yesterday. The leak, which is spewing about 400 barrels a day of oil into the ocean, is unlikely to be sealed during this weekend’s effort, he said.

Bikini Protesters

About 50 protesters gathered today outside the Perth headquarters of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, which represents oil exploration and production companies, to lobby against the spill and PTTEP.

Four bikini-clad women stood in mock barrels and smeared their skin with “oil,” as fellow protesters banged drums and chanted “Never again -- save the Kimberley.”

“We’ve had three failed attempts to cap the spill while millions of liters of oil pollute the Kimberley seas,” Wilderness Society state marine coordinator, Jill St John, told the gathering. “Now we have another leak reported in nearby waters.”

Long-term monitoring is the only way to reveal the impact of the Montara spill on bird and marine life in the region, Environment Minister Peter Garrett said in a statement today, citing an independent report by scientists.

Marine Life

A seven-day survey by a team of three marine biologists of the area found there isn’t enough information to draw conclusions about the effect on birds and marine life, Garrett said. PTTEP and the government said Oct. 15 the Thai company will fund an environmental monitoring program lasting at least two years.

Water samples in Indonesia have tested positive for oil contamination suspected to be from the Montara well, the Jakarta Globe reported on its Web site on Oct. 28, citing a government official.

The Montara well is in water 80 meters deep and some 690 kilometers from Darwin in the Northern Territory and 250 kilometers from Truscott on Australia’s northwestern Kimberley coast. About 300 people are working on addressing the spill, PTTEP has said. Seventeen vessels and nine aircraft, including a Boeing 747, have been used in the operation since Aug. 21.

PTTEP has drilled a relief shaft at the Montara field to intercept the leaking well and plug it, and intends to halt the flow by injecting heavy mud.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 30, 2009 01:15 EDT