Government was harsh in its comments on the Thai oil company's standards and scathing of how the responsible regulator in the region, the Northern Territory's Department of Resources, had carried out its supervisory responsibilities. As a combination, it was a failure, said the minister, at the heart of this matter.

MARTIN FERGUSON: Well-controlled practices approved by the regulator would have been sufficient to prevent the loss of well control. However, PTTEP Australasia did not adhere to these practices or its own well construction standards. That the Northern Territory Department of Resources was not a diligent regulator and its minimalist approach to its regulatory responsibilities gave it little chance of discovering these poor practices.

GREG HOY: PTTEP has other extensive interests in the Australian oil industry, including 21 exploration, production andInhibition of fermentation and growth in batch cultures of the yeast Brettanomyces intermedius upon a shift from aerobic to anaerobic conditions (Custers effect).
Aerobic growth of the yeast Brettanomyces intermedius CBS 1943 in batch culture on a medium containing glucose and yeast extract proceeded via a characteristic pattern. In the first phase of growth glucose was fermented to nearly equal amounts of ethanol and acetic acid. After glucose depletion, growth continued while the ethanol produced in the first phase was almost quantitatively converted to acetic acid. Finally, after a long lag phase, growth resumed with concomitant consumption of acetic acid. When the culture was made anaerobic during the first phase, growth, glucose consumption and metabolite production stopped immediately. This Custers effect (inhibition of alcoholic fermentation as a result of