Govt to protect local oil firms despite liberalization program

National companies engaged in construction services in oil and gas sector would be protected against foreign competitors despite the government's plan to open up the oil-related construction services, Kompas reported on Tuesday.

"We are still listing what kinds of construction services that would be opened to foreign companies. It is important in order to protect national companies from foreign competition," Luluk Sumiarso, the secretary general of the ministry of energy and mineral resources, said in a seminar on Energy Services Liberalization for Developing Countries in Denpasar on Monday.

He said that the government would be very careful in the liberalization of the oil-related construction services. Otherwise, the business opportunities in the sector would be benefited only by foreign companies.

According to him, the liberalization in the oil construction services could not be avoided because the energy sector has been included in the liberalization programs of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN).(*)