Riau denies involvement of China Petroleum

The provincial administration of Riau has denied the involvement of foreign oil companies including China Petroleum in its plan to take over the management of the Coastal Plain Pekanbaru (CPP) oil block from the current contractor PT Caltex Petroleum Indonesia, Riau Pos reported on Saturday.

Urai Nazirin -- the chairman of the special team set up by the local government in preparing the take over of the oil field -- said in Pekanbaru on Friday that rumors that China Petroleum played a part in the takeover plan was intentionally spread out of jealousy.

''The rumors come from some people who do not like the local province to operate the oil block," he said. But he acknowledged that such kinds of rumors also appeared because the local government was not transparent about the plan.

According to rumors reported by news papers early this week, President Abdurrahman Wahid's decision to allow the local government to operate the CPP oil block when the current contract ended in August next year was made to pave the way for the entry of China Petroleum.

Such a plot, according to the rumor, could be seen from the fact that the Riau province rejected the proposal to cooperate either with state oil and gas company Pertamina or Caltex in operating the oil block. As reported earlier, Riau prefers to work with other oil companies in managing the oil block rather than with the two oil giants. (*)