[3] Mobil Oil Corporation found natural gas in the Arun field near Lhokseumawe, in the Aceh province of Indonesia in 1971.

[9] A 1983 geologic survey found condensate-rich gas in "reef and associated carbonate facies of Lower and Middle Miocene Age that in places exceed 1,000 ft (305 m) in thickness,"[4] In 2019, a multi-disciplinary study of 16 wells in the Arun field found that the Arun Carbonate Reservoir contained 92% limestone, 5% dolomite, and 3% dolomitic limestone or other composition.

A 2022 model suggested that the Arun field had potential for additional production through Carbon capture and enhanced gas recovery.

After the coup attempt of 1965 and subsequent mass-killings of Indonesian Communists, President Suharto's military dictatorship, advised by the Berkeley Mafia, offered much friendlier terms to foreign investors.

[5] Acehnese secessionists resented President Suharto's military dictatorship in Java partly because nearly all revenue from the Arun field was taken by the central government, and Aceh province did not receive development or other benefits.

Acehnese residents were also subjected to environmental burdens of gas production, such as chemical leaks, relocation, and poisoned water that damaged fishing and agricultural resources.

[11] The Indonesian Human Rights Commission reported brutal suppression by the military and hundreds of cases where locals were raped, tortured, and murdered.

[11] ExxonMobil does not deny that these atrocities occurred, but states that their managers were not aware of the events at the time and that their troops were "not used in offensive operations.