Village cooperatives to help manage aging oil wells

By Godang Sitompul

Upstream authority BPMIGAS will take persuasive approach to help prevent villagers from illegally reopening aging oil wells which have been shutdown by their previous operators.

BPMIGAS official Hadi Prasetyo said that among the measures being prepared by his office is to team up with village cooperatives in managing aging oil wells which have been shut down by the production sharing contractors (PSCs).

The participation of the cooperatives is expected to help ensure proper safety and environmental standard in the running of the aging oil wells by the villagers, Hadi told Petromindo.com Tuesday.

As earlier reported, BPMIGAS lamented the vandalism act by a group of villagers who illegally reopened two oil wells in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatera, which have been left by former operator ConocoPhillips. The illegal operation of the oil wells is feared to cause environmental destruction and may endanger lives.

?It is true that the law prohibits such vandalism act. But we must take persuasive approach to deal with the situation. We?ll team up with village cooperatives and the PSCs to manage the aging wells,? Hadi explained.

He said that BPMIGAS branch offices in the regions will be asked to approach the regency administrations and local communities to offer them with the opportunity to manage aging wells through proper ways.

?We?ll ask the communities to manage the aging wells with proper standard of safety and environmental protection. We don?t want the villagers, for instance, smoking while carrying out activities at the well,? he said, while adding that his office would also ask the local environmental watchdog to help in supervising the activity.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak