Govt to speed up issuance of oil, gas permits in forest areas

The government promises to speed up issuance of permits to carry out oil and gas exploration activities in forest areas to 140 days from up to two years at present.

The promise to speed up of the permit issuance will be stipulated in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the forestry ministry and oil and gas upstream regulatory body BPMIGAS, which will signed on May 6.

Agus Suryono, a senior staff at BPMIGAS, said that there were at least 22 permits now waiting for approval from the ministry of forestry. ?Most of the permit applications were submitted three months ago. Usually it will take oil and gas operators several months or even two years to get the permit,? he added.

Under the MoU, the forest ministry promises to speed up the process of the issuance of the permit to 140 days, he said.

According to him, companies which are still waiting for permits include Pertamina EP PetroChina, ConocoPhillips, PT Kalimantan Kutai Timur Energi and Sele Raya.

Oil and gas contractors are required to get a permit from the ministry of forestry to carry out exploration and other activities in forest areas. Agus said that this requirement has become a major impediment in developing oil and gas wells located in forest areas. (*)