At US$130 a barrel there must be a cheaper way to get fuel.

There has been a lot off talk over how much Oil Indonesia actually has, truth be it to tell there is loads...the only problem is getting it out of the ground.

ExxonMobil have a huge reservoir called "Cepu" which will slowly come on line over the next few years. It has been a known resource for many years but disagreements between ExxonMobil, Pertamina and Tommy Suharto (another finger, another pie) have prevented this development, except that is, the development by the unlicensed local "Oil Companies"

I came across a number off photographs by a guy called Allen Johnston who visited Cepu and what he found was surprising...

The area around the Cepu field, although never properly abandoned was considered as non productive and Pertamina left, also leaving many wells which the locals could access.



First of all, they had to locate a well which still had casing intact and erect a makeshift derrick over the open hole. As the wells no longer flow, they merely seep, and there is a certain amount of oil enters the well-bore each day which can be extracted.



On a hi-tech well site, an old truck engine can be used to winch buckets of oil from the well.



The oil/water mix from the well bore arrives at surface and is directed to a drainage ditch for the next part of the refining process.



This two man unit has one guy running the engine using his toes to shift gears, the other runs the winch pulling oil out of the ground.Fuck all to do all day except chat and smoke, on top of an oil well!



Wonderful conditions here, another bucket load headed to the refinery.



At the end of the drainage ditch, the sludge is allowed to settle with the water at the bottom and the oil floating on top. Using buckets they capture the oil, transfer it into 8 gallon buckets and send it on for further processing.



While the "treated" water which has separated from the oil is dumped into an environmentally approved area.



Human Oil tankers ferry the crude to the refinery.



Meanwhile, the well next door uses a human winch truck to extract the oil.



In the distance, the flare stack from the refinery can just be seen.



The refinery is actually a buried 55 gallon oil drum with an oven below it. The crude is poured into the drum and then a lid is placed on top. Mud is used to seal the lid onto the drum. A fire is started and the crude is heated until it cracks and separates into vapours.



A technician is always nearby to detect the vapours and attach a pipe to the top off the drum to send the vapours into the pool off water on the right. This is the heat / exchanger within the refinery process.



All the time, the clay seal on the oil drum is renewed to ensure that the vapour is directed correctly. This guy is the clay seal man...



Displaying the latest in sealing technologies.



The process is underway, the square tin can directs the vapours underground and through the water...



This is what they are waiting for, hydrocarbon vapour, the cap is then placed over the barrel and the process is almost complete.



The pipe runs for about twenty feet through the water and at the end the vapours will have condensed into diesel which is sold to local farmers, presumably without the government surcharges.



And it's off to market with the Oil Tanker. They claim that they can recover 80% of the hydrocarbon crude as diesel. Makes you wonder.....

Got to give it to the Indonesians, they sure know alternative ways to get something done.