During the awarding night, taken place in Jakarta on November 17, PetroChina was one of only three recipients for the category of empowerment program in remote areas. PetroChina Vice President HR & Relations Mr. Dencio Renato Boele received the award from Social Affairs Minister Mr. Juliari P. Batubara in the ceremony, which was hosted under strict health protocol implementation and limited only for the award recipients.

Under the theme of “Synergy between Indigenous Community Development Program and Upstream Oil and Gas CSR”, PetroChina teamed up with the Social Affairs Ministry and various NGOs to provide clean water and sanitation facilities, as well as a healthcare and education center, in Bukit Suban village in 2019. The facilities are expected to improve the life quality of SAD people who practice nomadic living in Jambi forests but regularly interact with other people in the village.

The Jabung Block operator followed up these empowerment programs by offering workshops on developing a sustainable livelihood. These projects were dedicated to SAD people who have settled in a housing complex provided by the Social Affairs Ministry in Gurun Tuo village.

“PetroChina believes all the people, including indigenous communities in remote areas, must be able to take benefits from the work of the upstream oil and gas industry,” Dencio said.

In October last year, then Social Affairs Minister Mr. Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita visited PetroChina’s CSR project for SAD community in Gurun Tuo. The minister and his entourage inspected the sustainable alternative livelihood development program involving export-quality catfish, goat, and free-range chicken farms around SAD neighborhood.

Hosted annually by the Social Affairs Ministry and National CSR Forum, the Padmamitra Award is among the highest appreciations from the government for social programs conducted by corporations. The award has seven categories representing the ministry’s key topics in CSR programs, including poverty, empowerment programs for people with disability, disaster relief, and empowerment projects in remote and border areas.