Subsistence Oil Drilling at Wonocolo Field in East Java

The Wonocolo oil field, located in East Java, Indonesia, was first discovered in 1893 by Dutch-colonial troops who were digging for water. The field’s shallow depth—approximately 1,600 feet—has allowed local communities to extract crude oil for decades without the need for heavy industrial equipment.

New York Times

Local drillers employ rudimentary, hand-crafted rigs. A typical setup includes a red truck whose engine powers a pump attached to a three-legged tower built from teak logs and rope. Operators such as Sujiyanto, a 51-year-old independent driller who goes by a single name, manually control the pump to lift oil from the ground. On a recent Wednesday, smoke rose over the hills as men cranked a pump by hand, while others hauled the truck-driven pump up and down the well, filling containers with crude. The smell of oil and slick blackened soil are common sights around the field’s teak derricks.

New York Times

• Depth: about 1,600 feet, making Wonocolo one of the world’s shallowest oil fields.

New York Times

• Discovery year: 1893, during the Dutch colonial period.

New York Times

• Extraction relies on low-tech equipment rather than modern drilling rigs.

New York Times

• “This is how we extract oil from the ground,” — Mr. Sujiyanto

New York Times

The persistence of subsistence drilling at Wonocolo illustrates how small-scale operators continue to exploit shallow oil reserves using improvised technology. This practice highlights the intersection of local livelihoods with Indonesia’s broader energy landscape, where historic fields remain active despite the global shift toward more advanced extraction methods.

New York Times