ExxonMobil to sell gas assets in Indonesia

US energy giant ExxonMobil said Monday that it was selling its stake in a cluster of natural gas assets in Indonesia which have been at the heart of a long-running human rights lawsuit. The assets include gas fields in Indonesia's resource-rich Aceh province, which was the site of a long-running conflict between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels. "ExxonMobil is marketing the shares it holds in three companies associated with the Aceh gas and LNG (liquefied natural gas) producing operation in Indonesia," the company said in a statement. "The marketing does not involve any other ExxonMobil projects or interests in Indonesia," it added. One of the assets being sold is ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia, which was named a defendant in a lawsuit by 11 villagers who claim that ExxonMobil's security forces committed torture, rape and murder while protecting the company's gas projects. The company has rejected the allegations of the villagers, who first filed their lawsuit in 2001. In July, a US federal court allowed the lawsuit to go forward, the latest twist in a lengthy legal battle. ExxonMobil did not mention the lawsuit in its statement and said that its decision to sell the assets was "consistent with ExxonMobil's long-standing practice of continually reviewing assets for their contribution to ExxonMobil's operating and financial objectives". Aceh rebels signed a peace pact with the Indonesian government in 2005, ending nearly three decades of conflict.