Mobil Cepu plans seismic survey in Bojonegoro

Mobil Cepu Limited, a unit of American energy giant ExxonMobil Corp, planned to carry out seismic surveys in several villages in three districts of Kota Bojonegoro, Trucuk and Kapas in Bojonegoro Regency, East Java, local daily Surabaya Post reported on Wednesday.

The survey followed its successful exploration activities in the village of Mojodelik, Ngasem district, the paper said, adding that the seismic surveys were scheduled for this month and next month.

Iskandar, an official of the regency administration, said the company had sent a letter to the regency administration to officially ask for permission to carry out the surveys.

Mobil Cepu?s public affairs official Fasta Chusin said the company was proposing the ?buy-and-sale? scheme, rather than the ?lease? scheme to the owners of the land, where the company planned to carry out its seismic surveys.

?We shall not lease the lands,? he said during a presentation at the regency.

Under the buy-and-sale scheme, Fasta said, the company would ?buy in principle? the lands prior to the survey. This means that prior to the survey, the company and the villagers will negotiate on the price for their land if the company succeeds in finding oil and gas and wants to buy the land as well as the price the company has to pay to the villagers if it fails to find oil and gas and does not want to buy the land.

"If the survey is not successful, (the company)is also obliged to conduct land reclamation," Fasta said.

Mobil Cepu has discovered huge oil and gas reserves in its Cepu technical assistance contract (TAC) block, located in Central and East Java, and is continuing exploration activities to find more reserves. (*)