U.S., British firms close local offices

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

U.S. and British companies temporarily closed their offices here on Monday as a precautionary measure amid threats from local radical groups following the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan.

Some have prepared evacuation plans should the situation worsen.

State oil and gas company Pertamina spokesman L. Hariyanto said that U.S. oil and gas firms ExxonMobil Indonesia Inc., Unocal Indonesia Co. and Devon Corp. had temporarily closed their offices in Jakarta until further notice, although their oil and gas fields were operating normally.

He said that British-American oil and gas firm BP had opened its office but was operating with a skeleton staff.

Hariyanto said that Pertamina had asked all oil and gas companies operating in the country to continue working normally despite the threats.

"We've sent letters to them all telling them to keep their offices open and the oil pumps operating in their fields," he told The Jakarta Post.

Pertamina also encouraged companies to set in place the necessary safeguards for expatriates based upon guidance from their respective embassies, he said.

"We will continue to coordinate with the National Police. We hope the situation will not get any worse, otherwise we may evacuate foreign workers," he said.

A major disruption in the country's oil and gas production would have a severe impact on the economy.

Late Sunday, the U.S. attacked Afghanistan, the hiding place of Saudi Arabia-born multimillionaire Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in last month's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The British government and other western countries supported the attack.

Local radical groups had earlier threatened to attack U.S. interests and citizens here if the U.S. government went ahead with its plan to strike Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, PT Coca Cola Amatil Indonesia's official who refused to be named said that his company had instructed its foreign employees to take a day off for their own safety.

The company had also prepared a contingency plan to evacuate expatriate employees if the situation deteriorated.

"But we don't want to panic. We always keep an eye on the latest situation," he said.

A source at cigarette producer PT British American Tobacco (BAT) Indonesia said that BAT's offices in Jakarta only opened for a half day on Monday to avoid any "unexpected incidents" befalling its employees.

But the source said that the company's factory in Cirebon, West Java, remained in operation, and the Jakarta office would be open as normal on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Siddharta Moersjid, spokesman for PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., said that Freeport had not considered closing its offices or its gold and copper mine in Irian Jaya.

"It's business as usual for us. We think the situation is still normal," he told the Post.

However, he said, the company would continue to monitor the security condition seriously.

Freeport, the largest gold and copper mining firm in the country, operates its mine in Irian Jaya province. It has about 90 foreign employees out of a total of 9,000 workers.

Other U.S. firms which did not close their offices include PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI), which is jointly owned by Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc.

CPI, the largest oil producer in Indonesia, operates in Riau province.