PT Lapindo Brantas
As of January 2011, approximately 20.58 MSTB of oil and gas has been produced by LBI from its two productive areas.The CITYGAS project by Lapindo supplies households in East Java with a steady supply of natural gas through a built in pipeline infrastructure to complement the Indonesian government's policy and gas initiative to reduce dependence on kerosene as an energy source. The project involved the signing of a contract to sell 8MMSCFD of gas to "City Gas" in a 2009 agreement with the Director General of Oil and Gas to supply households in surrounding villages of Surabaya and to encourage the switch to LPG.
After the Sidoarjo mud flow disaster, Lapindo Brantas took over responsibility in covering for the cost of emergency response and victim resettlement, citing having paid more than Rp. 5 trillion despite being acquitted as the cause of the mudflow in 2009 by Indonesia's Supreme Court. Uncertainty still surrounds the exact cause of the mud eruption with scientists and geological experts unable to reach a unanimous conclusion as some argue it was the result of man-made drilling while others support the theory that its cause was a natural disaster linked to the reactivation of Mt. Semeru in nearby Yogyakarta. Most observers believe this uncertainty over the cause to be whitewash.
In June 2008, a report released by British, American, Indonesian, and Australian scientists concluded that the volcano wasn't a natural disaster, but the result of oil and gas drilling. In spite of this Indonesia's Agency for the Assessment & Application of Technology declared the mudflow to be a natural disaster, contradicting the previous government investigation headed by Professor Rudi Rubiandini (former head of the investigative team, established by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry). In the previous assessment, he declared that scientifically the mud that spewed out is because of human error.
To understand how, after its own investigations and international investigations concluded that the disaster was caused by shortcuts taken in the drilling precedure, the government could suddenly change tack and declare it a natural disaster, thus exonerating Lapindo Brantas and wannabee president Aburizal Bakrie, one needs to understand that both courts and government departments in Indonesia are easily bought by those with enough money. Convicted murderers with money leave prison after a few years, e.g. Tommy Soeharto, released after 4 years of a 15-year murder sentence Adiguna Sutowo, jailed for a paltry 7 years after murdering a hotel employee because a partner's credit card was declined, and released within 3 years (also with reported sightings while he was supposed to be in jail). Bank Century, is another example of how money talks and walks in Indonesia. Bank Century was granted a government bailout after declaring itself insolvent. Four times the approved bailout left government coffers. It is alleged that the extra money was to pay off political backers of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who had paid for his election victory. Getting the Indonesian government to declare the mudflow a natural disaster would be a simple matter of paying off the right people.
Claims that some mudflow victims have not been paid compensation as promised by Lapindo Brantas is still a matter of controversy due to disagreements over compensation packages and lack of documents to verify legal land ownership. As a result, mudflow victims often hold demonstrations to demand payments amidst the mud disaster's highly political climate.
Related Sites for PT Lapindo Brantas
- Lapindo - History read PT Lapindo Brantas
- Banjir lumpur panas Sidoarjo - Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia ... read PT Lapindo Brantas
- IKOHI: Victim's Place for Solidarity Building in Fighting for ... read PT Lapindo Brantas
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