Bontang close to obtain revenue share from Unocal operation
Wednesday, June 27 2001 - 02:37 AM WIB
The local Kaltim Post daily said on Wednesday that Bontang had convinced Jakarta that the so-called ?Melahin Field? was located in the waters of Bontang administrative area.
The paper quoted Bontang Mayor Andi Sofyan Hasdam as saying that a special team from the ministry of internal affairs in Jakarta will arrive in Bontang early next month to cross check the claim by Bontang.
If the oil and gas field is confirmed to be located in the Bontang area, the mayoralty would be entitle to a certain fraction of the oil and gas revenue obtained by the East Kalimantan province under the new fiscal decentralization law. So far Bontang has only known as a natural gas producing area.
As reported earlier, Bontang had also claimed that two other fields operated by Unocal, namely the ?Kendidingan? and ?Serang? fields were also located in the administrative area. But the paper did not say whether the people from Jakarta would also make cross check on the two other fields.
Bontang legislators had earlier lambasted certain parties for trying to prevent Bontang from obtaining a greater revenue by ?keeping secret? about the Unocal oil and gas fields.
Bontang was separated from the Kutai Kertanegara regency in 1999 to become a mayoralty administrative area.
According to Bontang legislators, the three oil and gas fields produced around 5,000 barrels of oil per day and 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.(*)