Seadrill’s West Atlas Rig On Fire – Incident Photo of The Week

Updated: February 5, 2026 (Originally published November 3, 2009)

This weeks incident photos are of the fire that was burning on Seadrill’s West Atlas jackup oil rig located in the Timor Sea between Australia and Indonesia.  BBC tells us:

An oil rig which has leaked thousands of barrels of oil into the Timor Sea over the last 10 weeks has been plugged, the rig’s operators have said.

A massive fire burning on the West Atlas rig has also largely been put out, said PTTEP Australia.

Experts plugged the leak on their fifth attempt by injecting thousands of barrels of mud into the well.

The oil leak, in the Timor Sea between Australia and Indonesia, has endangered marine life, environmentalists said.

PTTEP Australasia, said the fire broke out on Sunday as it made another attempt to plug a leak deep underwater at the West Atlas rig.

The company said it pumped nearly 3,500 barrels of mud into a relief well to plug the leak.

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