BP Migas forms regional offices

Upstream oil and gas authority BP Migas has formed four regional offices to support its activities, its official said Friday.

The offices respectively oversee North Sumatra and Riau; Southern Sumatra; Kalimantan and Sulawesi; and Maluku and Papua, BP Migas' spokesperson L. Harjanto said.

"They will monitor activities of production sharing contractors and the implementation of oil and gas contracts in the regions," he told reporters, adding that BP Migas formally decided on the establishment of the regional offices early this month.

Harjanto said he himself had been appointed as the head of the North Sumatra and Riau office, while the other appointees were Alfred Pelmelay as head of the Southern Sumatra office, James Runtu as head of the Kalimantan and Sulawesi office and Asrul Biki as head of the Maluku and Papua office. BP Migas' chairman Rachmat Soedibjo will next week install them.

The agency, formed last year in accordance with the 2001 Oil and Gas Law, has the authority to sign contracts with oil and gas contractors, oversee them and monitor their activities.

The current oil and gas law ends decades-long monopoly of state oil and gas firm Pertamina over the country's upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors. (godang)