In another attempt to reassure investors after the abrupt disbanding of oil and gas regulator BPMigas last year, the president will soon issue a decree removing the word “temporary” from the new regulator, known as SKMigas, the energy minister and head of the regulator said. SKMigas was formed after the Constitutional Court made a controversial ruling to annul several articles in the 2001 Oil and Gas Law, which effectively disbanded BPMigas, in November last year.
In a bid to soothe worried investors and normalize the situation, the president quickly issued a decree that detailed the formation of a temporary regulator, SKMigas, and appointed Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik as its chief. But Jero said on Tuesday that the word “temporary” makes oil and gas firms hesitant about investing in the country. “They invest billions of dollars, but [the regulator] is only temporary,” he explained. “There will be a new presidential decree to reorganize the oil and gas regulator.
The regulator will no longer be temporary, [it will be named] a special working unit,” Jero said, adding that the presidential decree will be ready later this month. The minister said the decree will remove him as chief of the regulator, though it will still be under the control of the ministry, adding that the decree will not lead to the establishment of a new institution. Jero was speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony granting government approval to 2013 work and budget programs for oil and gas companies operating in the country.
Lukman Mahfoedz, the president director of the Indonesian Petroleum Association, who also attended the ceremony, welcomed the government’s plan, saying that the association wants the regulator to remain under the ministry’s management as it will make coordination easier. Lukman, who is also the president director of Medco Energi Internasional, Indonesia’s largest listed oil and gas firm, said the regulator’s name is the least of his worries. “[The] name can be anything, but [the regulatory] structure should not reflect dualism,” he added.
The government approved 274 work and budget programs for 2013, which include 200 working areas in the exploitation stage and 74 in the exploration stage. A total of $26.2 billion will be invested in the oil and gas industry this year, according to the work and budget programs, with some $14.7 billion going toward production activities, $5 billion to development, $2.3 billion to exploration and $1.5 billion to general administration. Last year investment in the oil and gas industry totalled $21.9 billion.
“We ask for the contractors to execute the work programs immediately, so that we can achieve our revenue and production target.” Indonesia set its oil production target at 900,000 barrels per day this year, according to the state budget, while the government hopes gas production will reach 1.36 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The government also expects to generate $31.7 billion in revenue this year, as stated in the state budget.
source : the jakarta globe
source : the jakarta globe
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar