In a statement this morning, Santos said that despite “continued requests”, it had still not received confirmation of the news from the Indonesian operator.

According to a Reuters report, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also ordered Lapindo to spend an extra 1.3 trillion rupiah cleaning up the mudflow, which was most likely triggered by poor drilling practices on the Banjar Panji-1 gas exploration well.

This would bring the bill for Santos, which has an 18% stake in the project, close to $A100 million – more than double the company’s estimate. Santos has already paid $43.7 million in clean-up costs.

On Thursday, Thai newspaper The Nation quoted Yudhoyono as saying Lapindo should “start paying 20% of the compensation in early March 2007”.

The firm should also shoulder the cost of “restoration and redevelopment of damaged infrastructure including a toll road, train tracks and electricity transmission lines”.

Banjar Panji-1 has created an artificial mud volcano, which has been disgorging between 50,000 and to 150,000 cubic metres of mud a day since late May. More than 420 hectares, eight villages and 3300 families have been affected.

Subsidence associated with the well is thought to have caused November’s rupture of a third-party pipeline that killed 13 people and injured dozens.

Lapindo says the disaster was triggered by an earthquake that occurred 300km away.