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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

RPT-UPDATE 1-Exxon selling Indonesia assets linked to lawsuit


* Assets include Arun field
* Sale does not involve other Indonesia assets (Adds company comment; repeats to additional subscribers)
Aug 8 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) said it is selling natural gas assets in Indonesia associated with a recently revived lawsuit alleging human rights violations in that country.
Exxon is selling its stake in three companies associated with the Aceh gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) operation in Indonesia, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The decision to sell is part of Exxon's practice of continually reviewing assets to determine their worth to the company's operations and finances.
"The marketing has nothing to do with the lawsuit," David Eglinton, a spokesman for Exxon, said.
In July, a federal appeals court reinstated the right of a group of Indonesian villagers to sue Exxon in the United States. The villagers accuse Exxon security forces of murder, torture and other atrocities in Aceh province between 1999 and 2001.
The court ruled that companies are not immune from liability under a 1789 U.S. law known as the Alien Tort Statute for "heinous conduct" committed by their agents in violation of human rights norms. [ID:nN1E7670PG]
In 2010, the assets up for sale produced an annual average of 215 million cubic feet day of gas plus liquids. The assets include the Arun field and Arun satellite fields, and the North Sumatra Offshore field.
The planned sale does not involve any other Exxon Mobil projects or interests in Indonesia, the company said. (Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston; editing by John Wallace and Gerald E. McCormick)

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