CPP oil block should be operated by Riau province

Youth Islamic Movement (AMII) in Riau has called on the central government to support the provincial administration's demand to take over the operation and management of Coastal Plain Pekanbaru (CPP) oil block when the production sharing contract, now held by Caltex Pasific Indonesia, expires in August, next year, Riau Pos deported on Saturday.

Sarbaini Sulaiman, the head of the organization, said that President Abdurrahman Wahid should listen to the people's demand in line with the government's serious commitment to decentralize its financial and political power to the local government.

"The autonomy, law that will be implemented next year should be used as the momentum to empower the local economy," he said.

Under the existing regulation, the sole rights to operate oil and gas resources are still held by Pertamina as the representative of the government. This law has become a major barrier of the local authority to control their own oil and gas fields despite the government's plan to implement the law on autonomy and law on the inter-government fiscal balance, which give the local authority more power to administer their areas politically and financially.

Most of the oil fields are currently operated by foreign mining companies under a production sharing contract. But in the case of CPP oil block, the government has asked Pertamina and Caltex to jointly manage the oil block. (*)