CNOOC summoned over marine pollution
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Police will summon officials from the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) this week as witnesses in a pollution case in the waters near the Thousand Islands.
"We already have oil spillage samples taken from the waters of the Thousand Islands," the chief of the police's resources and environmental division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Haydar, said on Monday.
The police have visited the polluted sites twice: the first time on Jan. 12 and the second time from Feb. 18 to Feb. 20. During both visits, police took samples of oil spillage and coral reefs covered with oil taken from the waters around West Pantara, East Pantara, Matahari and Ringgit islands.
"Test results from the National Police forensic lab showed that acidity in the allegedly polluted waters reached 5.7 pH, whereas normal acidity should range between 6 and 9 pH," Haydar said.
"The nearest CNOOC oil rig from the suspected sites is on Widuri island. We still need oil sample from the rig to compare with the oil spillage samples.
"When we went to the rig last month, we were denied access by the workers there. They said that besides a search warrant, the police must also obtain a permit from the oil and gas upstream regulator (BP Migas)," he said, adding that this was why the police had summoned the CNOOC officials.
Haydar did not dismiss the possibility that the spilled oil could have come from a passing oil tanker in the Java Sea.
He said his division began investigating the matter because of media reports on protests by the Environmental Preservation organization over pollution in the Thousand Islands. The organization blamed the CNOOC for the pollution.
Environmental Preservation also said that fishermen in the area complained that spilled oil had reduced fish stocks, cutting their income from Rp 300,000 (US$36) to Rp 100,000 per day, said the group's chairman, Gusrizal, as quoted by Tempo Interaktif news portal.
Haydar confirmed that his team had seen spilled oil in water as they traveled from Ancol in North Jakarta to Pabelokan island in the Thousand Islands.
"Spilled oil was also seen in waters near some resort islands," he said.