Pertamina denies having no "Amdal"

The production unit of the state oil and gas company Pertamina in Dumai has denied newspaper reports that it paid no attention to the environment and operated without the mandatory environmental impact analysis or more popularly called Amdal.

The local office of the state oil compnay said that analysis on the impact the its oil processing operation on the environment was first made in 1984 and had been updated in 1994 and in 1995.

The local environment office earlier charged the state oil company with lacking commitment in protecting the environment, saying that the company's Amdal for its processing operation, which was made in 1984, had never been revised.

The office said that the operations of the oil company's supporting facilities such as hospital and airports were not supported by any single environtmental studies. (*)