Lapindo management quizzed

Police questioned two senior executives Of two oil and gas companies Tuesday as officials said the environmental disaster caused by a botched drilling job in Sidoarjo, East Java, was worsening. The Jakarta Post reported on Wednesday.

Imam Agustino, the general manager of PT Lapindo Brantas Inc., and Yenny Nawawi, director of partner company PT Medici Citra Nusa, were questioned after allegations surfaced earlier this month that gross negligence on the part of the prospecting companies had led to the continuous flow of hot, toxic mud from the Banjar Panji-1 drilling site.

Meanwhile, the National Police also questioned two other staff of drilling subcontractor PT Medici Citra Nusa - Slamet Riyanto, Subie and Slamet.

In Jakarta, police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said Riyanto, who managed the well?s exploration, as in a position to decide whether the installation of the casing was necessary. Anton said Slamet had talked to Rahenold, a consultant for PT Medici, about the drilling procedures. According to Anton, Rahenold had told Riyanto that casing was mandatory when the drilling for gas reached a depth of 8,500 feet.

?According to the testimonies from the three witnesses (Riyanto, Subie and Slamet), the drilling machine failed before the drilling reached the point where the casing was supposed to be installed,? Anton said.

However, in a letter dated June 5 written by Lapindo partner company PT Medco Energi Oil and Gas, PT Medco accused Lapindo of ?gross negligence? for failing to install the casing before it drilled to a depth of 9,297 feet.

Anton said Rahenold had not been questioned because he was on a haj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Police have also questioned Mulyani Wahyono, Sutjahyo Pratomo and Doddy Hidayat - executives from state oil and gas operator BP Migas.

Meanwhile, the disaster mitigation team from the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology in Surabaya said the situation in the area had worsened. The volume of mud erupting from the ground had reached 50,000 cubic meters a day, it said, far higher than the 5,000 cubic meters a day mentioned in Lapindo?s report on the disaster.

Team secretary Makky Sandra Jaya said officials were still searching for ways to contain the mud and stop the flows.

Environmental groups have worried publicly that officials will collude to cover up the reasons for the disaster.

The mud, which began flowing on May 27, has flooded more than 127 hectares of land in the regency, forcing the evacuation of four villages, blocking an important road, closing a rail connection and costing companies in the area billions of rupiah.

East Java Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr Suhartoyo said the investigation was focusing on ?managerial and technical aspects? of the drilling, which may have caused the disaster.

?We suspect that the incident was caused by human error. However, we still have to find out whether the error was deliberate or not.?(*)