Govt to carry out geothermal exploration

The government will carry out exploration activities on several geothermal concession areas to find out a reliable benchmark for geothermal exploration in the country, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Saturday.

Director General of Geology and Mineral Resources, Wimpy S. Tjetjep said that the government's direct involvement was needed to ensure that it would have a reliable benchmark in the geothermal exploration activities.

He said that the exploration, in the first stage, would be carried out by the Mineral Inventory Department at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The government would later establish a non-profit company to continue the exploration and the production of the geothermal energy.

According to him, the company's daily activities would be financed by contribution fees to be provided by existing geothermal energy producers so that the activities of the government's direct involvement in the exploration of geothermal resource would not affect the state budget. (*)