Blockade at Caltex oil wells continues as negotiations fail

Blockade at Caltex Pacific Indonesia?s oil wells in the Tanah Putih regency, Riau, which has taken place for almost two weeks, continues, as negotiations between the oil giant and protesters failed to produce any results, Koran Tempo reported from Riau on Tuesday.

Caltex spokesman Poedyo Oetomo said in Pekanbaru on Monday that the management was still trying to continue the negotiations with the protesters who called themselves as the Youth for the Tanah Putih or Gempita.

?If within certain of time, the negotiations still failed to solve the problem, we would hand over it to the police,? Poedyo was quoted as saying by the daily. But he said that Caltex had yet given an ultimatum to the protesters.

Kompas reported that the blockade started on June 5, when a group of young people closed the access road to the company?s seven oil wells in the district. The oil wells, which have a production capacity of 372 barrels per day, have stopped operation since the blockade.

Renville Almatsier, the oil giant?s spokesman based in Jakarta, said that the protest grew in the following day, with the youth seized another oil well nearby. The Perkebunan oil well, with a production capacity of 92 barrels per day, has also stopped operation.

Besides closing the oil wells, the protesters also seized five vehicles owned by Caltex and its contractors.

Renville said that the protesters had demanded Caltex to employ local people in the oil production activities in the Tanah Putih district. But their demand could not be fulfilled because PT Tenar and PT Guna, which handled the oil production in the area, did not have any job openings.(*)