ExxonMobil expected to resume operation next month

State oil and gas company Pertamina said its American production sharing contractor ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc. was expected to partially resume its gas operation in the Arun area of the restive province of Aceh next month if security conditions were conducive enough for the company to do so.

Pertamina's president Baihaki Hakim, in a prepared statement presented during the hearing with the House of Representative's Commission VIII for energy and mineral resources, environment and science and technology on Wednesday, said ExxonMobil was now preparing a standard operating procedure for the planned partial startup of its Cluster I and II gas fields in Arun.

The company would also send an advance team to make security assessment end of May.

The security assessment "will be followed by a partial startup in June. 2001, if the security assessment show security situations are conducive enough for an operation," Baihaki said.

ExxonMobil suspended its gas operation in March on security problems arising from the conflicts between the province's separatist rebels and the government's police and armed forces. The suspension forced nearby PT Arun NGL Co, which relies on ExxonMobil for its gas supplies, to halt its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and exports.

Responding to the legislators' questions regarding the capability of Pertamina's to take over the operation of the fields, Baihaki said Pertamina's employees were actually capable to operate ExxonMobil's gas fields.

But, he said, Pertamina's employees would face the similar security problems as ExxonMobil's workers and Pertamina would face a "legal problem" to take over the operation of the fields from legal point of view.

He did not however specify the legal problem. (Godang)