JAKARTA: Oil and gas company PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE) Offshore Southeast Sumatra is looking to start exploration in the vicinity of Kepulauan Seribu Regency next month.
The upstream sector company will announce its plan to Kelapa Island subdistrict residents and other Kepulauan Seribu dwellers on Feb 18 and 19, according to Antara News.
“Prior to the exploration, we will carry out several procedures, including informing residents living near the exploration area,” PHE spokesman Ifki Sukarya said.
Earlier, the subsidiary of the state-owned PHE met Kepulauan Seribu officials and its regent, Murad Husein, to inform them of its plans.
Efforts to disseminate information on the project will be conducted in the area, which is a chain of about 300 islands north off here.
“We will inform residents so that they will know about (the exploration) and we will get (public) support so that the drilling process can run smoothly.”
Last year, PHE Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) administered oil and gas exploration in Kepulauan Seribu.
PHE spent hundreds of billions of rupiah to deal with a broken well at its ONWJ block due to a misfired explosion during the drilling of the YYA-1 oil well in July.
In September, the broken well caused a massive oil spill that affected nine islands in the regency.
The Environment and Forestry Ministry said the spill would take as long as six months to clean up.