Constitutional court will soon decide the fate of oil and gas law

The judicial review of the constitutional court on the country's new oil and gas law No. 22/2001 will be announced later next week but the regulator on oil and gas exploration and production BP Migas hopes that any decision to be taken by the court should be reflect the interests of all parties involved in the industry, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

The new oil and gas law is one of several legal products being reviewed by the constitutional court. Last week, the court revoked the new electricity law for not implying the legal aspect of the 1945 constitution.

Deputy chief of BP Migas, Kardaya Warnika, said that the new oil and gas law had no much difference with the previous law. "Both laws cover upstream and downstream activities. The content of the law on upstream activities are quite similar to those stated in the previous law," he said.

The major difference can only be seen in the replacement of state owned Pertamina's regulatory role in the country's oil and gas production activities by a state institution called BP Migas, he said.

He, therefore, called on the constitutional court to consider all aspects of the country's oil and gas industry to decide the fate the new oil and gas law. (*)