T

housands of angry workers at a construction site at the Banyu Urip oil field in Bojonegoro, East Java, reportedly destroyed facilities at the site on Saturday after they found that were unable to immediately leave the site at lunchtime.

The incident disrupted production activities at the field, located within the oil-rich Cepu block.

Bojonegoro Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hendri Fiuser said the incident, which took place at the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC 1) area of the Banyu Urip project site in Gayam district, started at noon and lasted 30 minutes.

Prior to the incident, the workers, according to Hendri, were about to leave the site for lunch. However, unlike regular days, only two exit gates were open instead of five.

The workers instantly became furious at having to wait in line for so long to leave the site.

'€œThousands of workers who had waited so long to leave the site eventually got angry and attacked onsite vehicles and offices at the Cepu block project site,'€ Hendri said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said the number of exit gates had been reduced as a result of changes in management policy.

 Banyu Urip is currently the backbone of national production. Crude oil output from the field is expected to increase from 80,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) to 205,000 bopd, or about 25 percent of the targeted national output of 825,000 bopd.

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, through its subsidiary PT Pertamina EP Cepu, holds a 45 percent interest in the Cepu block. ExxonMobil Cepu Ltd., which is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation, holds another 45 percent and is the operator of the block.

Bojonegoro Regent Suyoto said one car had been burned in the incident. '€œHowever, [the workers] did not burn the office,'€ he said.

There are currently five major projects being developed at Banyu Urip, consisting of central processing facilities, an onshore pipeline, an offshore pipeline and mooring tower, a floating storage and off-loading (FSO) vessel and supporting infrastructure.

ExxonMobil Indonesia vice president for public and government affairs Erwin Maryoto said the incident had taken place after subcontract workers, who were employed through Tripatra-Samsung, the EPC 1 contractor, had been unable to leave the site early at lunchtime.

'€œSeveral workers became agitated and the situation escalated and [turned into a] disturbance involving property and vehicle damage,'€ he said in a written statement.

Although the situation had been contained, Erwin said the company had decided to reduce production in affected areas. '€œThe safety of our workforce and facilities is our top priority.'€