Road block at Sukowati field ends
Monday, August 22 2016 - 03:23 AM WIB
Road block at Sukowati field in Tuban block, Bojonegoro Regency, East Java, operated by Joint Operating Body (JOB) Pertermina-Petrochina East Java (PPEJ), ended on Sunday following meeting between the company and villagers facilitated by the Bojonegoro Police.
?Thank God, the meeting facilitated by the Deputy Chief of the Bojonegoro Police has come up with a solution accepted by PPEJ and the Ngampel Village Head, witnessed by representatives of the villagers,? said Head of Public Relations Division at upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas, Taslim Yunus.
Dozens of villagers of Ngampel in Bojonegoro blockaded the access road to Sukowati field on Saturday, hampering PPEJ from transporting rig and other supporting facilities to the field. The villagers were protesting PPEJ for failing to pay promised community development (CD) funds for the period of September-November 2015. The company, however, said that it would only disburse the CD funds, as agreed in 2013, once the village administration has submitted proof of village activities to be financed by the funds. The village administration has not submitted the required document since August, according to Taslim.
Taslim said that following the end of the road blockade, PPEJ finally managed by Sunday afternoon to move the supporting facilities to Sukowati field.
Tuban block is operated by PPEJ. As Joint Operation Body, Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE) holds 75 percent participating interest and PetroChina East Java holds the remaining 25 percent.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak