ExxonMobil temporarily closes Jakarta office as U.S. nears to attack Afghanistan

Oil and gas firm ExxonMobil Indonesia temporarily closed its Jakarta office starting Monday, as the U.S. government is set to attack Afghanistan.

But ExxonMobil spokeswoman Julia Tumengkol said that the company?s gas operation in Aceh province continued.

?The Jakarta office will be temporarily closed until further notice,? Julia told Petromindo.com.

The U.S. government is close to attack Afghanistan, the hiding place of Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect of last month?s terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Several local Muslim fundamentalist groups here have earlier threatened to attack U.S. citizens and interests if the U.S. government proceeded with plans to attack Afghanistan.

Separately, spokesman of the state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina L. Harijanto said that certain foreign oil and gas firms had informed Pertamina that they would temporarily shut down their offices in Jakarta to avoid trouble to its staffs if the U.S. attack Afghanistan.

Harijanto said that regarding the oil and gas operations in various places in the country, Pertamina was convinced that the security forces would do its utmost to secure the assets.(Godang)