Riau residents threaten to blockade Caltex's oil fields

At least 5,000 young people grouped in the Riau Youth Committee or KPR have threatened to blockade oil fields operated by PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) in the province beginning today to demand a higher split from the company's production, Media Indonesia reported on Monday.

The blockade, that is expected to last at least one month, will begin at the Caltex office complex in Rumbai. The protesters demand the government allocate 70 percent of Caltex's oil production to Riau province.

KPR's chairman Rusli Ahmad said on Saturday that the protesters would come from Pekanbaru, Duri, Dumai, as well as Kandis, Minas and Minas districts and Kampar regency.

"Our demand is fair. How should we only receive 15 percent of the oil production while Aceh and Papua receive about 70 percent," he was quoted as saying.

Riau governor Rusli Zainal appealed to the young people to cancel their blockade threat but he at the same time called on the central government to listen to the local people's aspiration.

He said that the local people demanded fairer shares in the production of the province's oil fields. The current fiscal balance law should therefore be revised so that the Riau province can receive at least 40 percent of the oil production from the province, instead of 15 percent at present, he added. (*).