Pertamina developing underground pipe to resolve theft problem

By Benget Besalicto Tnb.

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina is building an underground crude oil pipeline linking Tempino and Plaju in South Sumatra as a part of its efforts to reduce rampant oil thefts in the region.

?We?re building it now. Hopefully we can finalize it soon so that it can help reduce the oil theft in the region,? said Gunung Sardjono, President Director of Pertagas, a subsidiary of Pertamina, which is handling the pipe development.

According to him, oil theft has more than doubled during the first half of this year.

?And during the first half of this year the oil theft has amounted to the level reached during the whole year of 2011. We have to deal with it seriously,? he said on the sidelines of the 12th Gas Information Exchange 2012 in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Wednesday.

He said that beside developing the pipeline underground ? two meters below surface with 8 inch pipes that have a capacity of up to 15,000 barrels per day ? Pertamina is also trying to find out the root problem of the oil theft.

?One problem I think that we have to deal with is the operations of illegal oil refineries which illegally buy the illegally derived oil production. If the small-scale oil refineries are not in operation, certainly there will be no oil theft as they will find no buyers,? he added.

He noted that Pertamina would also further strengthen a sense of belonging among the local people on the state assets, by improving and expanding its corporate social responsibility (CSR).

?So far Pertamina has been the largest company in terms of funds to finance CSR activities so we'll expand our CSR activities further with a view to strengthening the sense of belonging among the locals of where we operate,? he said.

Editing by Dadan Wijaksana