THE oil wells off the coast of Madura, East Java, were operating as usual when Tempo went there last week. The pumps were working, flowing crude oil through the pipelines to oil barges—not far from the soaring rigs in the middle of the sea. There were no operational changes. The only difference was that the block has changed ownership, from Kodeco Co Ltd to PT Pertamina (Persero).

Pertamina became the official owner of the area on May 7 when t