S. Sumatra to legalize traditional wildcatters

Musi Banyuasin regency administration in South Sumatra will soon legalize oil exploitation activities by local people in the area.

But, the regency administration would require the traditional wildcatters to sell their products to the refinery being built by a company owned by the regency administration, Kompas daily reported Tuesday.

Today, the area's unlicensed traditional wildcatters, who operate old wells, process by themselves their products into fuel, the paper said.

The daily said that PT Kilang Muba, a unit of PT Petro Muba owned by the regency administration, was building a small oil refining plant in the area with the processing capacity of 500 barrels per day. The project costs Rp 11 billion (US$=Rp 8,166).

Petro Muba's president director Robert Heri said that the regency would issue licenses for the unlicensed traditional wildcattters before the oil refinery started operation. He did not say exactly when. (*)