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esidents of Tanggulangin, Sidoarjo, East Java, have protested without avail against planned gas drilling by Lapindo Brantas Inc., a company affiliated with the family of businessman and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

Slamet, a resident whose house is located 200 meters from the location, could only watch as dozens of trucks carried gravel and excavators for the Tanggulangin I well in Kedungbanteng village, Tanggulangin district.

'€œThe heavy machinery commenced working yesterday under police supervision. We actually oppose the operation and even organized a petition in 2012 in protest against it,'€ Slamet told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Slamet claims residents opposed the gas drilling activity as they were traumatized by the Lapindo Brantas mudflow disaster at the Banjar Panji I well in Porong, Sidoarjo, which engulfed thousands of homes, several villages and swathes of rice fields.

The Tanggulangin well is located 5 kilometers from Banjar Panji 1 well, the center of the mudflow in Porong.

'€œI'€™m at a loss as to why residents eventually did not respond when the heavy machinery entered the village after they received food packages filled with 10 kilograms of rice and a kilo of sugar from Lapindo Brantas Inc.,'€ said Slamet.

A similar opinion was expressed by another resident, Sholiq, who said Lapindo was already equipped with an exploration permit.

'€œWe are just villagers who are unaware of legal matters. To be frank, I disagree with the exploration activity for fear a similar disaster will take place again,'€ said Sholiq.

Lapindo Brantas spokesman Arief Setya Widodo claimed his company had communicated with the local residents and provided them with social aid. '€œThe social aid is part of our corporate responsibility toward residents in the relevant villages. The compensation is in line with their needs,'€ said Arief.

He added that all activities carried out by Lapindo were part of the company'€™s commitment to the country becoming self sufficient in oil and gas supply, especially in the community of Sidoarjo.

Lapindo Brantas gas production volume at the Tanggulangin I well is predicted to reach 5 million cubic meters daily. If combined with the 30 wells that operate in Sidoarjo, the total volume of gas could reach 8 million cubic meters daily.

In addition to the Tanggulangin 1 well, Lapindo will also explore the Tanggulangin 2 well, also located in Kedungbanteng village. Both wells are expected to be able to produce 10 million cubic meters of gas daily.

The company admitted earlier that drilling activities would be continued although the disbursement of compensation to dozens of the Lapindo mudflow disaster had not been completed.

The government earlier agreed to bail out the powerful family to settle the remaining compensation for victims of the mudflow disaster, providing a Rp 781 billion (US$62 million) loan to PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya, a company tasked with handling the disbursement of the compensation.

The company, which is also associated with the Bakrie Group, claims it has so far spent Rp 6.1 trillion in resolving both social and physical issues stemming from the mudflow.

Separately, PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya director Andi Darussalam Tabussala acknowledged 83 mudflow victims had yet to be compensated.

'€œIt'€™s not that we refuse to pay. We are always willing to settle the issue immediately. The problem is, some parties apparently disagree with the amount of compensation,'€ he said.

Andi added that those who disagreed could seek settlement in court because the dispute centered on land values.

'€œWe are equipped with complete data but they demand sums above the value of their land,'€ said Andi.