ABDUL Mutalib Masdar still remembers his encounter with an expatriate working for ExxonMobil on a three-dimensional seismic survey in Bayu Urip, in the East Java district of Bojonegoro three years ago. Abdul, a geologist, was told that 32 expats worked on the project from 2000 to 2001. Its a waste of money [with too many working on the project], he told Tempo on Wednesday last week.

Abdul, who is Chairman of the Indonesian Association of Geologis