Caltex loses US$1m per month due to theft
Wednesday, May 30 2001 - 07:30 AM WIB
Indonesian largest oil producer PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia said thieves had been troubling its oil operations in the Bekasap and Duri areas in Riau for many months, causing the company to suffer US$1 million per month.
A company official told Petromindo.Com on Tuesday the thieves stole various production equipment.
"The theft happens on daily basis and they stole equipments that are vital to our production," Walter Maguire, company business development specialist said.
He said that the thefts started to intensify some 18 months ago and he suspected that a very well organized gang committed the crimes.
"The thefts have been to some extent slowing down our production process and in my conservative estimation, Caltex suffers at least US $ million per month," he said.
He said the problems had been persistent in the recent month and so far there was no sign of slowing down.
He said necessary steps had been taken to deal with the problems, including hiring a security company called G4 to secure the working production area.
Caltex, which is equally owned by American Chevron and Texaco, is the country's largest oil operator with a total output of than half Indonesia's crude production. (alex)