Pertamina's exploration in South Sumatra halted by locals

Angry locals who demanded to be employed by state oil and gas company Pertamina have forced the state company to stop its exploration activities at the Tepus field in South Sumatra, a senior Pertamina official said.

Pertamina's upstream director Gatot K. Wiroyudo told Petromindo.Com on the sidelines of an oil and gas workshop in Anyer, Banten on Thursday that the locals had blocked off the access road to the oil field, bringing exploration activities there into a standstill.

He said Pertamina had drilled one well at the field, which flowed 2,500 barrels of oil per day.

He did not specify when the blockage started and what actions being taken by Pertamina to handle the problem. (Alex/Godang)