Major companies in Aceh follow ExxonMobil's lead

Major companies in Aceh follow ExxonMobil's lead

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc.'s (EMOI)
decision to halt oil and gas production in Aceh province for
security reasons has forced other major companies in the area to
follow suit.

PT Arun NGL Co. -- a major exporter of liquefied natural gas
to Japan and South Korea -- officially stopped operations on
Saturday, company spokesman Rustam Effendi said.

"We have to suspend production because the supply of gas as a
raw material from ExxonMobil has totally stopped," he said.

Aceh legislators Mustafa A. Glanggang and E.M. Barify
separately called on Saturday for the companies to resume
operations, Antara said.

"This will certainly create huge losses for both companies and
the Aceh people," Glanggang said.

PT Arun, which employs 10 foreign staff members, 1,400 local
employees and some 2,400 contract workers, is 55 percent owned by
state oil and gas company Pertamina, 35 percent by Mobil Oil
Indonesia Inc. and 15 percent by the Japan-Indonesia LNG Co.

EMOI, which operates three oil and gas fields in the North
Aceh districts of Lhoksukon, Arun and Pase, and supplies several
other major companies in the area with gas and condensate, halted
production on Friday amid security concerns.

The company, owned by Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., employs
30 expatriates, about 600 local employees and another 1,500
contractors working at 56 wells.

EMOI operates at an enormous industrial site in North Aceh
where violence is common between government forces and the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels.

Both PT Arun NGL Co. and EMOI sites have been scenes of
conflict.

Records revealed that staff have been kidnapped and
threatened, vehicles burned and shots have been fired at both
companies' chartered airplanes.

Local reporters, however, described the poor living conditions
of people residing near the compound of the giant industrial
sites as "a factor that has triggered a strong GAM movement in
the area".

PT Arun was evacuating staff from its local airstrip to Medan
in neighboring North Sumatra on Saturday.

It is said that on Friday fertilizer plants PT Pupuk Iskandar
Muda (PIM) and PT Asean Aceh Fertilizers (AAF), and paper plant
PT Kertas Kraft Aceh (KKA) had production difficulties because of
a cut in fuel supplies.

PIM halted plant production Friday because of a gas shortage.

No immediate confirmation was available from the three
companies.

A local journalist, however, said that on Saturday security
appeared to have been reinforced at EMOI, with armed soldiers
guarding all security posts.

Aceh Police chief Brig. Gen. Chaerul Rasyid said after a
hearing with provincial legislators on Saturday that the police
were ready to provide extensive protection to EMOI, which has so
far been guarded by the Army.

"We received a report that GAM rebels have asked for a
'compensation' fund of around Rp 5 billion (US$500,000) per year
from those companies," he said.

North Aceh's GAM spokesman Abu Sofyan Daud dismissed the
report, saying that "actually we are ready to secure ExxonMobil
if TNI/Polri are removed from the area," Sofyan said.

He also said that the company should have given some funds to
GAM instead of the military/police as "it will only enrich the
Javanese imperialists".

On Saturday and Sunday, however, a massive military deployment
took place in the province's capital, Banda Aceh.

Earlier, during a hearing on Saturday, General Chaerul was
also quoted by Antara as saying that he was initially scheduled
to meet with GAM commander Tengku Abdullah Syafii'e on Feb. 28.

"But that failed to happen as he (Abdullah) did not get
permission from GAM in Switzerland," Chaerul said, adding that he
still wishes to meet with the rebel leader.

Separately, it was also announced on Saturday that Aceh's
Humanitarian Pause was officially renamed Damai Melalui Dialog
(Peace Through Dialog), government representative Col. Ridwan
Karim said.

"The Switzerland-based Joint Forum (between Indonesia and GAM)
has also been renamed as the Joint Council. Under the new
arrangement we will focus on extensive consultation among field
commanders from both sides," he said.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen shot dead an palm-oil
plantation worker Yusri A. Gani near his house in Bukit Rata
village, East Aceh, on Saturday, plantation official Saifullah
said.

A GAM rebel named Jamhur Mahmud, 32, was shot dead in Pasar
Garot in Pidie regency on Saturday afternoon when a group of
rebels intercepted patrolling officers, Adj. Sr. Comr. Heru Budi
Ersanto said.

In Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and
Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Sunday the
National Police along with the Indonesian Military (TNI) should
be involved in internal security.

"I realize the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Decree no.
VI and VII/2000, regarding separation of the roles of TNI and
National Police, stipulates that the TNI is to maintain external
defense, while the National Police are to manage internal
security. But the separatist demands in our two troubled
provinces, Aceh and Irian Jaya, have been threatening our
stability.

"Our Police are not adequately trained to quell such
activities. The duty (to quell the separatist activities) belongs
to the TNI," Susilo said. (edt/02/50/51)