The Atjeh oil complex is the collective designation used in Van Bemmelen’s *Geology of Indonesia* (1949) for the group of four small oil fields on Atjeh territory — Peureula, South Perlak, Pulu Pandjang and Pasé — that were operated by three different oil companies (the N.L.A.M., the N.K.P.M. and the N.P.P.M.) in the 1940–1941 period. The complex is distinct from the B.P.M.-operated East Atjeh block and Tamiang block, which are listed separately in Van Bemmelen’s Table 4; the designation “Atjeh complex” appears to be reserved for the smaller, non-B.P.M. fields that were clustered in the Pidie–Peureula–Pasé region of the Atjeh north coast.
Component fields
Van Bemmelen’s Table 4 records the following fields under the “Atjeh complex” heading:
| Field | Operator | 1940 | 1941 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peureula | N.L.A.M. | 48,219 | 36,640 |
| South Perlak | N.L.A.M. | — | — |
| Pulu Pandjang | N.K.P.M. | — | — |
| [[Pasé oil field | Pasé]] | N.P.P.M. | — |
Only the Peureula and Pasé fields record production in either year; the South Perlak and Pulu Pandjang fields record no production in either 1940 or 1941, which suggests that they were either in the development stage, suspended, or being explored but not yet brought into production at the date of Van Bemmelen’s tabulation. The fact that the four fields are operated by three different companies — N.L.A.M., N.K.P.M. and N.P.P.M. — also indicates the fragmentation of the Atjeh oil landscape among multiple concessionaries, in contrast to the B.P.M.-dominated East-Atjeh and Tamiang blocks.
Geological context
Van Bemmelen’s general classification of the Atjeh petroleum geology places the Atjeh complex fields among the “steep folds (Atjeh, Borneo)” that “were repeatedly investigated by drilling but the results have not been encouraging”. The implication is that the Peureula, Pulu Pandjang and Pasé fields are hosted in steeply-folded neogene sediments of the Atjeh north coast, in structural settings less favourable for oil accumulation than the gently-domed anticlines of the South-Sumatran fields. The modest size of the Peureula production (48,219 tons in 1940, declining to 36,640 tons in 1941) and the very small Pasé production (1,797 tons in 1941) are consistent with this assessment.
Significance
The Atjeh oil complex is significant for the encyclopedia of Acheh history because it represents the clustered core of the colonial-era oil industry on Atjeh territory — the small group of fields in the Pidie–Peureula–Pasé region that were brought into production by the N.L.A.M., N.K.P.M. and N.P.P.M. in the years immediately before the Pacific War. The complex is also the clearest colonial instance of the multi-company concession system in Atjeh: three different oil companies, each holding a separate small field, in a region where the B.P.M. (Royal Dutch) held the larger and more productive East-Atjeh and Tamiang blocks. The complex accordingly illustrates the fragmentation of Atjeh’s colonial oil economy among competing concessionaries, and the modest scale of production that this fragmentation permitted.
See Also
- Acheh
- B.P.M.
- East Atjeh oil block
- N.K.P.M.
- N.L.A.M.
- N.P.P.M.
- Oil exploration in North Sumatra
- Pasé oil field
- Pedirse
- Peureula
- Pulu Pandjang
- Tamiang oil block
- Van Bemmelen’s The Geology of Indonesia (1949)
- 1940
- 1941
Source
The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 9 (Table 4: Oil production in the East Indies in 1940 and 1941).