We deplore Chevron`s step and will follow up the case."
Dumai (ANTARA News) - The local office of the ministry of environment (KLH) in Dumai in the Sumatran province of Riau had accused PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia of not seriously tackling its crude oil spills in the local waters.

The head of the local KLH office, Basri, said here on Thursday that in view of that he had written a letter to the central office in Jakarta and would coordinate with the local port authority (KSOP) to summon all parties involved in the incident.

"In the future, the port authority will summon the owner of the ship and the company concerned to ask for an explanation regarding cleaning of crude oil spills in the waters," he said.

Chevrons crude oil spilled while being transferred to the ship Medelyn West at Terminal Four of the oil port in Dumai on March 26.

Basri said the U.S. company had tackled the incident by itself and did not involve the official authorities, including KLH and KSOP, and this was against the regulations.

He said the KLH will also question the companys policy of allowing Medelyn West carrying crude to pass through the Dumai waters without coordinating with the authorities concerned.

"The company should have reported the incident to the local government soon after it happened so that the clean-up operations could immediately be carried out. We deplore Chevrons step and will follow up the case," he said.

He added that any instance of spills of crude oil, which is categorized as a poisonous and hazardous substance, would be followed up in view of its pollution potential to the marine environment and the habitat of living creatures there.

"We are serious in dealing with such incidents and therefore will hold parties involved responsible," he said.

Chevron meanwhile said it had already deployed its workers to conduct cleaning up using a number of equipment and involving crew members prepared for such an incident.

"We had already analyzed the cause and took action to prevent its recurrence in the future. We had worked hard to ensure that it would not affect the companys operations," its communications manager Tiva Permata said.

Permata said that only around 10 barrels of crude were spilled during the transfer process to the Medelyn West ship.

"Based on the results of the clean-up operations it was found that no more than 10 barrels had been spilled," Permata said in a press release received by ANTARA News here on Thursday.

(Reporting by Abdul Razak/Uu.H-YH/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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