Gresik regent criticizes Premier Oil
Tuesday, July 25 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Regent of Gresik, East Java Robbach Ma'sum criticized British oil and gas company Premier Oil for failing to stage "social and religious approaches" to the villagers of Ujungpangkah, Gresik.
Robbach told visiting Premier Oil's staff at his office that the protest of the villagers to the company's exploration activities was because the company did not approach the villagers before they started exploration.
"The Ujungpangkah community has a strong religious culture. Thus, all businessmen who want to get into the area should first understand the culture before doing surveys despite the fact they have obtained licenses from the central government," the governor was quoted by Surabaya Post as saying during the meeting with Premier Oil's staff.
The Ujungpangkah villagers recently staged protests, claiming that the gas explorations by the British company had affected their fishing activities.
Robbach said Premier Oil should take lessons from the case.
If the exploration activities did not have adverse impacts on the villagers' fishing activities, Premier Oil should explain to the villagers and convince them about it.
However, the regent hoped the protests would not discourage Premier Oil from realizing its plan to start drilling its first gas well in November this year.
Premier Oil's vice president Santosa Kosasih said the gas discovered by the company in the Ujungpangkah area would be produced to supply industrial demands in the province of East Java.
He said the gas from Ujungpangkah would be cheaper than the gas transmitted from the Pegarungan island given the closeness of the Ujungpangkah gas fields to gas buyers.
He also noted gas supplies from Ujungpangkah would gradually replace gas supplies from Pagerungan, which he said would decrease by 50 percent in 2003 and continued to decline in the following years due to the shrinkage of gas resources in the area.
According to the paper, the Ujungpangkah gas fields will have the production capacity of 400 million barrel equivalent of gas. (*)