Troubled gas pipeline in E. Java seawaters not dangerous: Team

A government-led team has annulled the declaration by oil producer BP Indonesia that a 500-square kilometer area in the Java Sea was a dangerous zone due to troubled undersea natural gas pipeline, an oil industry source told Petromindo.Com on Thursday.

?Yesterday, the team nullified the declaration,? the source said. Attending Wednesday?s meeting were officials from BP-Migas and executives of state oil and gas firm Pertamina, state-owned PT Trans Java Pipeline and BP Indonesia.

BP Indonesia issued a statement early this month calling on all ships to avoid the 500-sq. km zone between East Java and Kangean Island where it operates a gas field. The company said a section of the 370-kilometer natural gas pipeline under the Java Sea had been floating from the sea bottom and that it could cause fires or explosion.

Government and Pertamina officials said that BP had exaggerated the danger which might be caused by the troubled pipeline. They said Pertamina would continue transmitting gas from Kangean?s Pagerungan field to East Java.

Participants in the Wednesday meeting went through the reports on the condition of the pipeline which were presented by experts from Indonesian Marine Corps. The team decided on the occasion to install a current data recorder in the alleged dangerous zone, the source told Petromindo.Com.

The team decided that project of repairing the pipeline would start in January 2003. (godang)