BP says committed to Papua despite Freeport attack: Report
Wednesday, September 4 2002 - 09:07 AM WIB
BP Indonesia, a unit of British-based oil and gas giant BP, has total investments of around $6.5 billion across Indonesia, including the Tangguh gas field in Papua tipped to supply China's second planned LNG terminal in Fujian province.
"BP remains committed to developing the Tangguh LNG project on schedule," said a BP spokesman, who did not wish to be named.
Indonesian troops are still hunting for the attackers who ambushed a convoy of vehicles on Saturday near the operations of U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.
The United States on Tuesday denounced the attack -- the worst involving foreigners in a decades-old simmering rebellion -- calling it an "outrageous act of terrorism".
It is also more bad publicity for Indonesia, struggling to attract investors after its economy collapsed in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.
Resource-rich Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, borders independent Papua New Guinea on a huge island closer to northern Australia than Jakarta.
The Tangguh field, about 450 km (280 miles) from Freeport's mine, has some 14.4 trillion cubic feet in proven reserves and construction of an LNG plant is due to begin next year.
The BP spokesman said the company would continue its policy of using unarmed, community-based security to protect its operations at Tangguh, unlike other big players such as Exxon Mobil and Freeport which rely on the military for protection.
"For the Tangguh project we are committed to our community-based security plan. It's a developing concept and at this point there is no military or police presence on site."
Some activists say using the military and police to provide security has added to tensions in local communities over the operations because of alleged human rights abuses by the forces. (*)