‘Like a bomb went off’: Fears linger over Indonesia’s 30,000 community-run oil wells amid efforts to manage them | USAEMALL.com

WONOCOLO, East Java: From a distance, the rolling hills and valleys of Wonocolo resemble the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic film. 

As far as the eye can see, the trees that once blanketed these slopes have been replaced by three-legged towers – wooden logs lashed together with hemp rope, like skeletal sentinels jutting out of the ground.

Up close, the scene is even more surreal in this small East Javan village. The ground is dark and slick, streams are choked with iridescent oil and the air is thick with the smell of petroleum, the fossil fuel that is both Wonocolo’s economic lifeline and its undoing.

Oil wells have been a feature in the village for more than a century, first operated by Dutch colonial rulers followed by a succession of private and state-owned companies. Since the 1970s, they have been operated by locals with little training and rudimentary equipment.

Wonocolo is far from unique. Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources estimates there are at least 30,000 of these so-called community-run oil wells scattered across the country.

“They conduct drilling activities with little to no safety precautions or regard for the environment,” said Putra Adhiguna, managing director of the think tank Energy Shift Institute. “As a result, blowouts and oil spills are rampant.”

These wells operate without permits, he added, but the government has long turned a blind eye because of their role in sustaining local economies.

That stance is now shifting. On Jun 3, the Energy Ministry issued a regulation allowing artisanal oil wells to operate legally provided that they meet yet-to-be-determined safety and environmental standards in four years’ time.

“(The Indonesian government) is trying to find a middle ground. By legalising the activity, the government hopes these wells can be better monitored and regulated,” Putra said. 

“But oil extraction is not like other forms of mining. Even licensed oil and gas operations run by official companies … carry major risks. If such operations are run by ordinary people without sufficient resources, it’s bound to become chaotic.”