Foreign Scientists in Sidoarjo to Study Lapindo Mudflow

SIDOARJO, KOMPAS.com - Scientists from a few foreign countries including Germany and Britain have arrived in Sidoarjo to observe and study the center of the 5-year-old Lapindo mudflow in the Porong area.

"We have come here to observe from close quarters the conditions of the Lapindo mudflow," Jeffrey Richard, executive director of Humanitus, said on Wednesday.

The center of the mudflow is located near the Banjar Panji I well drilled by Lapindo Brantas oil and gas company in Porong. The scientists would study the hot mud that has been surging from a hole in the ground for the past five years without any sign of abating.

"We have assembled scientists from several countries who will try to determine what had created the continuing mudflow considered to be the biggest of its kind in the world," Jeffrey said.

He said it had been estimated the phenomenon could last for up to 25 to 30 more years. All the members of the sceintists team would each do their individual observations on the mudflow’s center and later meet to discuss their findings.

There had so far been a difference of views among gelogists about what caused the mudflow. Some of them had said the mudflow came into being by a drillng mistake but others attributed it to a natural development. British geologist Richard Davies was "99 percent" convinced the mudflow had been caused by a drilling mistake.

"We will also conduct a further study on what impacts the mnudflow will have in the future," Davies said.

Meanwhile, Russian geologist Sergey Kadurin said the mudflow was a result of a natural occurrence as had been the case in similar phenomena in other countries.

"It could have been related to the existence of an underground volcano in the past that had been forgotten by the local populace," he said.