Kangean Islands
Encyclopedia
The Kangean Islands form an archipelago part of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, are located in the Java Sea
Java Sea
The Java Sea is a large shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf. It was formed as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age. The Java Sea lies between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south; Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east...

 approximately 120 km (74.6 mi) north of Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

 and 120 km east of Madura Island. The islands are administratively a part of Sumenep Regency
Sumenep
Sumenep on Madura Island is a regency of East Java, Indonesia. It contains the Kangean Islands and Masalembu Islands as well as the easternmost part of Madura...

 within East Java
East Java
East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...

 province.

The largest island, at about 490 km², is Kangean Island. Other islands include Paliat, Sepanjang, and several smaller islands. The towns of kalikatak and Arjasa, both on Kangean Island, are the area's largest population centres. The islands have strong historic and ethnic ties with Madura, peoples of kangean is almost 100% moslem; most residents are ethnically Madurese.

There is a Kangean language
Kangean language
Kangean is a language spoken in Indonesia, in the Kangean Islands which lie to the east of Madura Island. It is barely intelligible with Madurese proper....

.

Saltwater crocodiles are reported to be present within the island's coastal mangroves.

Since 1993 the islands have been the site of substantial natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 mining. The natural gas fields were first discovered and developed by the United States corporation ARCO
ARCO
Atlantic Richfield Company is an oil company with operations in the United States as well as in Indonesia, the North Sea, and the South China Sea. It has more than 1,300 gas stations in the western part of the United States. ARCO was originally formed by the merger of East Coast-based Atlantic...

, which became a subsidiary of BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...

 in 2000. In mid-2004, BP sold its Kangean holdings to an Indonesian corporation, PT Energi Mega Persada. The islands are connected to East Java via a 430 km pipeline
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....

, most of which runs underwater.

Other economic activities on the islands include teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

, coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

, and salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

production.
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