CNOOC summoned over marine pollution
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.