Govt evaluates PEP?s request to relinquish 18% of working areas

By Godang Sitompul

PT Pertamina EP (PEP), a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm, plans to relinquish about 18 percent of its working areas as operationally and geologically, they?re considered to be ?uninteresting.?

The government is set to evaluate the request as the Directorate General of Oil and Gas await for the official letter from upstream authority SKK Migas on the PEP?s request. ?We?re currently making preparation to make the evaluation, but the SKK Migas has yet to submit (the PEP proposal) officially,? Director of Upstream Development at the Directorate, Naryanto Wagimin told Petromindo.com on Wednesday.

PEP has proposed to relinquish 25 square kilometers of its working areas of its total 138,000 square kilometers working areas. ?Our relinquish program is about 25,000 square kilometers ? We?re currently waiting for the approval of the government,? said PEP President Director Syamsu Alam to Petromindo.com.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak