Villagers blockade Cepu?s oil field

A group of people living around the Banyu Urip field of Cepu Block in Mojodelik village of Ngasem subdistrict in Bojonegoro regency, East Java province, have blockaded road access to the oil field and the initial production facility of the gas oil separation plant.

They blockaded four access points in the villages of Ngaglik and Katur in Kalitidu subdistrict; and in the villages of Gayam and Brabohan in Ngasem subdistrict, Kompas.Com reported from the scene on Wednesday.

The website reported that the villagers decided to blockade the roads leading to the oil facility after their negotiations with Mobil Cepu Limited (MCL), a subsidiary of the block's operator ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia, over compensation got deadlocked since Tuesday.

The villagers are asking a compensation from MCL as they they accuse MCL's Gas Oil Separation Plant of emitting bad odor, causing health problem among them.

A report said that on Wednesday, hundreds of the villagers vomitted, felt nauseous and dizzy with at least of eight of them taken to the emergency unit of the Sosodoro Djatikusumo General Hospital Bojonegoro for treatment after inhaling the bad odor.

MCL?s External Relation Manager Deddy Affidick noted that MCL had agreed to provide compensation to the villagers, but in the form of aid programs to help the whole community within the long term, not in the form of cash as they had demanded during the negotiations.

The programs offered by MCL consist of a clean water facility, road improvement, education and health facility improvements. ?But the villages? representatives to the meetings refused to accept the programs,? he said. (*)