Govt expects formation of oil, gas downstream regulatory body in late-September

The Indonesia government expects to form in late September the so-called Regulatory Body which holds the highest authority over the country?s downstream oil and gas sector, a government official told Petromindo.com on Monday.

T.A. Nur Winakun, head of the legal affairs and public relations bureau at the ministry of energy and mineral resources, said an inter-ministerial team would next week deliberate the draft concept of the regulatory body structure which was being prepared by the ministry.

Existing oil and gas law, which came into force last November, stipulates that regulatory body must be formed before the end of 2002. The law ended Pertamina?s decades long monopoly in Indonesia?s upstream and downstream sectors, and made the firm an ordinary limited liability company.

The Regulatory Body will take over from Pertamina the task of distributing oil fuel in the country.

In July, the government formed the so-called Implementing Body (BP-Migas) which took over from state oil and gas firm Pertamina the highest authority over Indonesian?s upstream oil and gas sector. (godang)