TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Illegal oil wells found in Cepu
Of the 550 oil wells in the traditional mining area of Cepu Bojonegoro block in Bojonegoro regency, East Java, 295 have been illegally dug using sophisticated equipment belonging to an Australian drilling service company, a subsidiary of state-owned oil firm Pertamina has said
Change Size
O
f the 550 oil wells in the traditional mining area of Cepu Bojonegoro block in Bojonegoro regency, East Java, 295 have been illegally dug using sophisticated equipment belonging to an Australian drilling service company, a subsidiary of state-owned oil firm Pertamina has said.
PT Pertamina EP spokesperson Muhammad Baron said that there were initially only 255 wells, which were jointly managed by the company and three village cooperatives (KUD).
Quoting Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Decree No. 1/2008 on guidelines for oil mining in old wells, Baron said that the KUD and region-owned enterprises (BUMD) were only allowed to conduct mining activities on existing well layers using traditional equipment.
'They are not allowed to move to other layers, deepen wells and drill additional wells,' Baron said, Tuesday.
He said that the crude oil produced from the old wells in Cepu Bojonegoro block was 1,075 barrels oil per day (bopd), while that from the illegal drilling production was estimated to reach 1,085 bopd.
In fact, during 2013-2014 only some 1,600 bopd were delivered to PT Pertamina EP, meaning that some 300 to 500 bopd were not handed over to the company. This was estimated to have caused US$10.95 million in state losses annually.
Baron said that together with the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police, the company planned to curb the illegal mining activities in the near future.
This was seen as necessary because the activities involving some 3,000 miners had been receiving backup from security personnel. 'The TNI commander has visited the field and spoken directly with them,' said Baron.
The measure was also considered necessary because opportunities to invest in the illegal mining activities had been used as a lure for fraud through the Internet promising a fast return on investment of between 50 and 1,000 percent a year.
Separately, the chairman of KUD Usaha Jaya Bersama operating oil wells in Wonocolo and Dadangilo, Marjuki, said that there were indeed many illegal drilling activities in the area.
However, he said he could no nothing because the illegal mining groups 'were stronger'.
'Still, the blame has always been put on the KUD although it's not us that does the illegal drilling. That's what happens in the fields and we do not have the guts to halt them,' Marjuki said.
He suggested that preventive measures should be conducted to prevent new illegal wells from being made while the old ones were kept.
He said illegal activities had been decreasing after PT Pertamina EP put up signboards banning new well drilling in the area.
'If the government acts firmly I think people will follow,' said Marjuki, reminding the authority to consider the social impacts of such measures as it could affect many people's livelihoods.
_______________
'They are not allowed to move to other layers, deepen wells and drill additional wells.'
![A man walks across a pedestrian crossing near a billboard depicting named Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading “the honest [person's] promise“ and in Persian “Israel is weaker than a spider's web“, in Valiasr Square in central Tehran on April 15, 2024. Iran on April 14 urged Israel not to retaliate militarily to an unprecedented attack overnight, which Tehran presented as a justified response to a deadly strike on its consulate building in Damascus.](https://img.jakpost.net/c/2024/04/16/2024_04_16_149344_1713260233._medium.jpg)
