Villagers block access road to ConocoPhillips? gas field

A group of people in Bintialo village of Musi Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra, have blocked the main access road to ConocoPhillips? Suban gas field of the Koridor Block in the regency since late April, hampering oil and gas production activities.

Upstream authority BPMIGAS? Public Relations, Security, and Formality Division Head Gde Pradnyana said in Jakarta on Friday that ConocoPhillips? workers had to take an alternative road to reach the gas field.

However, taking the alternative road could not solve the problem as it is in bad condition. The road blockade has therefore seriously hampered gas production activities from the field, which produces about 10 percent of the country?s total gas production, he said.

The Suban field produces 780 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas and 10,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). The field supplies its gas production to Singapore, state owned gas distributor PGN and Chevron Indonesia.

Gde said that if the local government failed to end the villagers? protest, it would seriously affect production activities at the Suban field.

In 1999, ConocoPhillips applied for a permit from the forestry ministry to use a part of a protected land in Bintialo village as the company?s access road to reach the Suban gas field. A few years later, the company obtained the permit and in 2004 it settled the compensation for plantations owned by a number of villagers on the land used by the company.

But apparently, there is a part of the land used by ConocoPhillips that has been claimed by H. Sopawi, one of the villagers. He then organized some villagers to block the access road. The villagers, however, still allow other people, especially from plantation companies nearby, to use the road, Gde said.

Editing by Benget Besalicto Tnb.