When HSF agreed with BPLS to work on Sidoarjo, Mr Richards said, the Indonesian side promoted the Russian study as their first project. “It’s my opinion, from the scientific studies I’ve done, that earthquakes could not have triggered Lusi and we’re 90 per cent sure – many colleagues would say 99 per cent sure – this was related to a drilling accident.” “The report doesn’t have any real data and what little data they do provide is flawed,” said Dr Tingay, who has co-authored major scientific studies of the Lusi phenomenon. RINeftGaz seems to have formed in 2007, about the time Vladimir Putin visited, promising Mr Yudhoyono help with Lusi and promoting co-operative Russian-Indonesian petroleum developments.Įxperts such as Mark Tingay, from the University of Adelaide’s Australian School of Petroleum, say the study fails to demonstrate how the mudflow was triggered by an earthquake they say was “either 10 times too small or 150km too far away”. Kadurin.Īn obscure Russian petroleum company, RINeftGaz, provided the study’s $US1m technical support. Lapindo’s insistence Lusi was triggered by the magnitude-6.3 Jogjakarta earthquake two days beforehand has now been supported by the Russian study, led by Sergey V. While Mr Bakrie prepares to run for president in 2014, Lapindo reportedly has told government officials it can’t afford to fund Sidoarjo compensation any longer.Īccording to the government agency overseeing Lusi, BPLS, Lapindo had paid R2.55 trillion by August, when local NGOs said compensation payments had already dried up.
But last year the Supreme Court exonerated Lapindo, police dropped charges against its executives and a parliamentary investigation also backed the company. In December of that year, South Australian oil and gas producer Santos paid $US22.5m ($22.85) in a deal to release it from claims by joint-venture partners in the gas project. Mr Yudhoyono in 2008 ordered Bakrie Group to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah ($432 million) in compensation and work to halt the mudflows. This led foreign agencies to conclude that Bakrie Group – and Mr Bakrie, then Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s welfare minister – were responsible for compensating victims and mitigating damage. Most expert international opinion holds that Lusi was triggered by a drilling accident by Lapindo Brantas, a petroleum company controlled by the family of Aburizal Bakrie, Indonesia’s most powerful tycoon. “One of the saddest things was that with all the hoo-ha, no one in the international organisations was putting their hands up to help.