Indonesia to boost energy security

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- - Indonesia will increase security for foreign energy companies in the wake of the terrorist attack on a Jakarta hotel last week, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said recently.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri plans to issue a decree to bolster security for foreign companies working on oil, gas, and mining projects, Purnomo said.

"A special (security) arrangement is needed as oil and gas projects are vital," he told reporters. The administration is discussing whether the police or military should take responsibility for the security of foreign energy companies, he said.

Last week's attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta has raised fears that foreign firms could become targets for members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic militant group accused with a string of recent bombings in Southeast Asia.

Companies like Exxon Mobil and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. already pay Indonesia's armed forces millions of dollars annually to defend their facilities. Exxon Mobil's gas operations in the westernmost Aceh province, and Freeport's gold mine in West Papua on the eastern end of Indonesia, are both situated in areas where the army is fighting separatists.

Exxon Mobil suspended operations for five months about two years ago due to fighting between the army and rebels near its plant. Last year, two Americans and an Indonesian were shot dead near Freeport's gold mine in an ambush which police have blamed on the military.