Deliberation of oil and gas bill projected to be tough

The deliberation of an oil and gas bill to be handed over by the government to the House of Representatives on June 2000 are projected to be tough and lengthy because of quite principal differences between the Ministry of Mines and Energy and state oil company Pertamina on authority and supervision, the Suara Pembaruan reported on Saturday.

Under the bill Pertamina wants to change itself in a holding company overseeing affiliated companies so that supervision on production sharing contracts will still be held by Pertamina. This is quite different with the Ministry of Mines and Energy's intention to entrust the supervision function to a new independent institution.

Pertamina's president Baihaki Hakim admitted on Friday about the differences, but he said they would not affect the deliberation of the bill as both the Ministry of Mines and Energy and Pertamina will accept any decision to be taken by the House of Representatives.

"For Pertamina, we have nothing to lose. Whatever decision to be taken, we will accept it. The most important thing here is that the government has to be fair. If the government wants Pertamina to become a pure business entity, other non-business functions, including the fuel procurement, have to be revoked," he said.

Baihaki said that there are many government regulations, which curtail Pertamina's business activities. The oil company, for example, is never given a budget to expand itself, but on the same time it is given various complicated non-economic duties, he said.

Meanwhile, director of exploration and production of the Directorate General of Oil and Gas Kardaya Warnika said on Saturday that representatives of his office will hold a meeting with Pertamina to talk about and seek for solution from the differences. (*)