Exxon?s Owen fails to renew permit due to production miss

By Godang Sitompul

Upstream authority SKK Migas has decided not to renew the work permit of Richard Owen, the President Director and General Manager of ExxonMobil Indonesia due to a number of reasons including the latter?s failure in meeting oil production target at the Cepu Block in Central Java.

SKK Migas Deputy for Operation, Gde Pradnyana explained to Petromindo.com that as an expatriate, Owen?s work permit in the country is renewed annually by the authority taking into account a number of factors.

ExxonMobil, he said, received a special attention because the company is the operator of the Banyu Urip field within the Cepu Block, in Central Java, seen as the backbone for the increase in oil production in the country.

Gde said that Owen has failed to meet a number of targets set by the government to accelerate production increase in the Banyu Urip field.

He pointed out that Owen has failed to achieve early production target of 27,000 bpd at the Banyu Urip field (production was only 24,000 bpd).

Owen has also been perceived to have lack of commitment in interacting with the local community, thus causing failures in obtaining a number of permits for the Cepu Block. Other negative factors include failure to settle land dispute and inconsistency in policy making, which may undermine the government?s target for full-scale production in 2014.

With Owen?s failure in obtaining a renewal of his work permit, ExxonMobil Corp may have to propose a new name to lead its subsidiary in Indonesia.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak