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'It's causing significant losses': Chevron struggles with theft at Rokan block
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Chevron Pacific Indonesia's facility in the Rokan block in Riau province. (Antara/FB Anggoro)
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merican energy giant Chevron and local authorities are cracking down on theft at the company’s facilities in the Rokan oil and gas block in Riau province.
Chevron Indonesia senior vice president for government and public affairs Wahyu Budiarto told reporters in Jakarta on Monday that fuel was being siphoned from company pipelines and equipment was being stolen from the facility.
“It’s causing significant losses. It’s a pipeline in production after all, channeling fuel to Dumai,” he said.
In response to the situation, Chevron, the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (SKK Migas) and Riau Police have established a task force to tackle illegal activities.
Although launching the task force has helped reduce the frequency of such activity, illegal tapping remains a problem for Chevron, said Wahyu.
SKK Migas deputy head of business Muhammad Atok Urrahman separately said the agency only found out about the illegal tapping activity last month but that it had reportedly been happening since 2012. There have been around 63 such cases to date.
He said the oil was siphoned through 2.5-inch pipes up to 100 meters long.
“There are indications that the oil is then carried far away from the pipeline by vehicles,” added Atok, although he did not mention exactly how much oil was being siphoned off. SKK Migas is still conducting investigations into the case.
Chevron has operated in the Rokan block since 1931 but its contract will expire in 2021, by which time the block will be handed over to state-owned energy company Pertamina.
The Rokan block yielded 209,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) last year, according to SKK Migas data.
