(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia is seeking at least 27.4 trillion rupiah ($1.7 billion) in damages from PTT Exploration & Production Pcl in a planned lawsuit next year over the Montara oil spill, even after the Thai company reached an initial settlement with farmers in the area.

The lawsuit plan follows PTTEP’s agreement to pay A$192.5 million to a group of Indonesian seaweed farmers to settle a class action brought by them after the 2009 spill at the Montara oil field in Timor Sea. 

The government is seeking a bigger compensation from PTTEP for the damages it caused to coral reef, mangroves and marine life, including 4.4 trillion rupiah to fund restoration efforts, Environment and Forestry Deputy Minister Alue Dohong said on Thursday.

Experts are still calculating the total damage costs that “may be bigger” than initial estimates, Dohong said in a press briefing in Jakarta. The calculation process had been held up due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The way we see it, we’re getting a little something first, rather than nothing, then we will chase a bigger one,” Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who chairs the government’s Montara oil spill taskforce said at the same event. 

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