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Environmental recovery from Pertamina oil spill may take half a year: Officials
The government and Pertamina needs at least six months to conduct environmental recovery efforts in the affected areas.
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Residents of Cemaranaya beach clean up the oil spill from nearby offshore oil and gas block Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) operated by state energy giant Pertmina’s upstream unit Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE). (Antara/M. Ibnu Chazar)
E
nvironmental recovery efforts following the recent oil leak from state energy giant Pertamina’s Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) Block may take more than six months, officials have said, as residents have reportedly begun to bear the brunt of the damages.
The oil spill follows a gas well kick incident, an unplanned and often violent release of gas caused by low pressure in a wellbore, on July 12 in an exploration well called YYA-1, beneath PHE’s ONWJ offshore platform located 2 kilometers north of Karawang, West Java.
Initial reports showed that the oil spill had only affected 11 villages in Karawang and Bekasi, West Java, and seven beaches in the province, but the Thousand Islands administration said on Friday that the spill had reached seven of its southern islands on July 22.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said that the government and Pertamina would need at least six months to conduct environmental recovery efforts in the affected areas.
"There will certainly be continuous conservation and recovery programs to address the impacts of the oil spill. We hope that physical recovery could proceed quickly, we will do as best as we can," she said after observing Karawang and Thousand Islands on a chopper on Thursday, as quoted in the ministry's press release.
West Java governor Ridwan Kamil said that Pertamina and affected administrations had agreed to resolve the issue within the next eight months at the latest, which would be divided into two stages.
"The first stage is two to two and a half months of emergency responses. The recovery period will proceed for the following two to six months. Economic, psychological and environmental impacts must be recovered," Ridwan said in Bandung, West Java, on Friday.
