Local govt finally reopens sealed wells operated by PetroChina

By Febry Silaban

The Tanjung Jabung Timur Regency administration finally reopened on Tuesday 12 of the 14 wells in the Jabung block, Jambi province, operated by PetroChina (Jabung), which had been sealed off for about four months.

The local administration is expected to reopen another two wells today, said Tirat Sambu Ictijar, a senior official at the upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas southern Sumatra operation.

He said that with the reopening of the 14 wells, the Jabung block is expected to resume to normal operation soon.

The 14 wells in the Jabung block had been sealed off by the local regency administration since May 24 on grounds that PetroChina had not obtained the necessary location permit from the local government for the wells.

PetroChina, however, insisted that the location permit for the wells had already been issued even before the company acquired them. The company had also called for speedy issuance of location permit for the entire Jabung block, acquired in 2002.

It is not immediately clear whether PetroChina has finally obtained the new location permit required by the Tanjung Jabung Timur Regency administration. But Tirat said that if the wells are sealed off for too long, there are concerns of negative effect on the local environment and safety to the people, as well as it would undermine PetroChina?s production target set by the SKK Migas.

In June, PetroChina (Jabung) Ltd spokesman Budi Setiadi told lawmakers at the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing the energy sector that the company was pessimistic about achieving the 2013 oil production target of 15,966 bpd due to the sealing off of the wells in the Jabung block.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak