T

he Indonesian sea police will sail to Makassar Strait to check if foreign vessels declared illegal by the government are still operating at West Seno oil rigs belonging to Chevron Pacific Indonesia, a local brand of US energy giant Chevron Corporation.

“I have informed our sea police, and they are going to check the location,” Indonesia Police director for specific crimes Brig. Gen. Suhardi Alius said Sunday.

The Transportation Ministry has declared two Singaporean-owned accommodation work barge ships that serve rigs belonging to Chevron as illegal, demanding the vessels be cleared from Indonesian waters.

“The ships are illegal. They don’t have a permit to operate in Indonesia. We have instructed Chevron to stop the vessels’ operation and send them out of the country,” Transportation Ministry’s director for sea traffic and transportation Leon Muhamad said.

According to the ministry’s letter sent to the vessel’s operator, the permits used by the two foreign vessels were fake, and thus illegal to operate in Indonesia.

Suhardi said the police had investigated the document falsification, and had questioned a number of people involved in the crime.

Suhardi, however, asked the Transportation Ministry to also ask help from the Navy to assist police in its effort to clear out the barges.

In a letter dated Dec. 18, a copy which was obtained by the The Jakarta Post, the Transportation Ministry told Chevron, the largest oil producer in Indonesia, contributing around 40 percent to the country’s crude production, that two vessels — Workover Barge FF-1 and Workover Barge SS-1 — had operated illegally at their oil rigs and should be cleared to Singapore or a third country.

Chevron confirmed last week that the two illegal vessels were still in operation at its rigs, citing that it needed time to process replacement of the vessels.

Leon, however, insisted the operation of the vessels must stop first before Chevron finds a replacement as it violated the law.