DPR to Discuss Oil and Gas Law Amendment

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) is planning to hold talks on revising Law No. 22/2001 on Oil and Gas (Migas Law) after the recess period ends. There are three main points that will be discussed.

"We will summon related parties," said Commission VII chairman Kardaya Warnika on Wednesday, March 4, 2015.

The first point will be related to the establishment of a supervisory agency for upstream oil and gas activities. Currently, the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas) is the ad hoc agency that monitors upstream oil and gas business activities after the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulator Agency (BP Migas) was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in 2012.

Kardaya said that there will be two options related to a supervisory agency. First, the agency will be put under the government's authority, which will be represented by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. Second, the supervision will be handed over to the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina.

The second point of discussion will be the contractual arrangement of oil and gas block management cooperation that has expired. According to Kardaya, Pertamina or Perusahaan Gas Negara must be willing to undertake oil and gas block management from private or foreign companies that have previously exploited the block.

The third point planned to be included in the dicsussion is that the DPR plans to transfer fuel procurement authority, which is currently under the Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas), to Pertamina. Later on, BPH Migas will only act as regulatory body on fuel procurement and serve as a monitoring agency.

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