ExxonMobil Arun pipeline catches fire

A fire that broke out Saturday at a natural gas supply pipeline at ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc.'s Arun gas field in Aceh province is still burning, spokeswoman Julia Tumengkol told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.

"It's still burning, but it's now a very small, clean flame..." she said. "We're going to let this burn out by itself like the first incident."

Tumengkol said the incident Saturday was the second pipeline fire since the company shut down operations in March due to security concerns. She said the extent of damages to the pipeline in the latest incident is unknown, adding that no injuries were reported.

According to a local press report, the first incident, which occurred at a different pipeline, wasn't an accident but was caused by cuts made deliberately to the pipeline.

She said she expects the fire to die out in the next few days as the pipeline wasn't operating and the fire is being fueled by leftover natural gas residue.

She said ExxonMobil Oil, which is a unit of Exxon Mobil Corp, is confident that the pipeline can be repaired. However, she said the cost of the repairs and the time needed to make the repairs are still unknown.

When asked if this latest incident will influence the company to keep operations shut, Tumengkol said, "It's too early to determine the effects of this incident on whether we should resume gas operations." (*)