Aceh asks for 70 percent share in govt?s oil revenue
Friday, February 2 2007 - 02:58 AM WIB
It is one of several points proposed by the province to be included in the oil and gas governmental regulation being drafted by the central government.
The proposal was submitted by Aceh?s acting governor Mustafa Abu Bakar to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro on the sidelines of a seminar in Jakarta on Thursday.
Mustafa said the proposal was made based on the inspiration of the Aceh people.
The drafting of the proposal involved various ?stakeholders? in Aceh, including academics, lawyers, governor and vice governor elect Irwandi Yusuf and Muhammad Nazar, according to legislator Teuku Rifky Harsya.
In the proposal, the province also asked to be involved in the management of data on mineral resources in the province. Thus far, Harsya said, only the central government knows about the data.
Besides, the province asked to be involved in tendering process, making decisions on general survey, offering working areas, monitoring exploration, exploitation and reclamation process.
The province also proposed the establishment of a province-owned oil and gas company resembling state owned oil and gas company Pertamina and a province-level oil and gas upstream regulator resembling BP Migas.
Harsya said the new provincial government would respect the existing contracts held by national oil and gas company PT Medco Energi International, American oil and gas company ExxonMobil Corp and Pertamina JOB. The extension of new contracts such as the one owned by Medco over the Block A, which was formerly owned by American oil and gas company ConocoPhillips would be carried out according to a future new ruling.
?It (the extension of the contract) may be given by a new agency to be formed by the provincial and central government,? Harsya said. (*)