Arun work put on hold after bomb blast
JAKARTA (JP): American oil and gas company PT ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc. has suspended works for the start-up of its Arun gas fields in Aceh, following a bomb explosion at one of its gas pipelines, an ExxonMobil official said on Tuesday.
ExxonMobil spokeswoman Julia Tumengkol said the company suspended a section of its current repair works at its Arun gas facilities.
"There is still some work going on at another section, but we've decided to review the situation over there," she told The Jakarta Post.
Early on Monday, a bomb exploded at one of Arun's pipelines connecting the gas fields with the Arun liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
The government has said the bomb exploded when soldiers were combing the area along the pipeline as part of Arun's start-up preparation.
According to the government, no casualties were reported in the incident, but Julia said one of ExxonMobil's workers was slightly injured.
"A van carrying our workers passed the bomb when it exploded, one of the workers was hit by the bomb's shrapnel...it's a minor injury and he's now back to work," she explained.
She said there were no plans yet to evacuate ExxonMobil's employees again, after the company deployed 200 workers to Arun last week.
ExxonMobil abandoned Arun in mid-March due to persistent security threats by local armed groups, believed to be members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
In response, the government beefed up security at Arun's gas fields though the measure didn't initially convince ExxonMobil enough to return.
Only recently, the company agreed to return, on signs that security was improving in its operation area.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said so far he had received no reports of ExxonMobil suspending its preparation works at Arun.
To his knowledge, works were proceeding as scheduled.
"But what we need is still coordination, especially from the armed forces because in this (security) matter they are instrumental," Purnomo was quoted as saying by Antara on the sidelines of a discussion with the House of Representatives Commission VIII regarding the new oil and gas bill.
Nonetheless, he added the bomb blast prompted the government to call an emergency meeting between the Indonesian military (TNI), state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and ExxonMobil.
"The result (of the meeting) will determine whether we'll suspend the works or make some adjustments," he said but did not elaborate what adjustments there could be.
Following ExxonMobil's more than three months absence, the condition of the pipelines deteriorated sharply, he said earlier.
Most of the works were conducted to repair damage done to these pipelines.
A delay in repair works would further set back Pertamina's target to have the Arun LNG plant operating at full capacity by the end of next month.
The state company had earlier estimated to start up Arun's gas fields this week or early next month. But a meeting with ExxonMobil last week pushed back the schedule to mid-July.
Pertamina must meet its contractual obligation of supplying Japan and South Korea with LNG. So far, the company is able to cover the shortage of LNG supplies from the Badak LNG plant in Bontang, East Kalimantan.
By late July, however, Badak will no longer be able to meet the two countries' LNG demand, as an expected surge in LNG demand threatens to outstrip Badak's capacity.
Pertamina said it would need about one month after the gas started flowing from Arun for the plant to start shipping out LNG.(bkm)