Government drastically cuts down oil, gas permits

In a bid to help lure new investment in the oil and gas sector in the country, the government will further cut down the number of oil and gas permits, according to a senior official.

Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, IGN Wiratmaja Puja said in a statement obtained Wednesday that starting 2017, the number of permits required in the oil and gas sector will only be six, a drastic drop from the current number of 42 permits. These will comprise of two permits in the upstream sub-sector, and four permits in the downstream sub-sector.

Two years ago, the government cut down the number of permits from 104 to 42.

Wiratmaja said that Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan is expected to soon issue a new regulation on the streamlining of permits in the oil and gas sector.

The statement said that five ministerial regulations will also be merged into a single ministerial regulation. The five includes Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) Regulation No 23/2015, MEMR Regulation No 007/2005, MEMR Regulation No 1/2016, MEMR Regulation No 27/2006, and MEMR Regulation No 28/2007.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak