Govt urged to decide on the rights to install gas pipelines
Monday, October 22 2001 - 07:43 AM WIB
Natanegara told Petromindo.com on Monday that the oil and gas bill did not make clear about the parties which could be allowed to install new pipelines. So far, the country?s gas pipeline projects had been carried out mostly by state gas company PT PGN.
"The government should have deliberated who would have the rights to install pipelines so as to fulfill the rising demand for gas on the domestic market. It should have thought about the technical and economic aspects of pipelining plans,? Natanegara said.
?Before the bill is passed into law, the government and production sharing contractors should have sit down and discussed about PSCs? obligation of fulfilling the domestic demand for gas, including the rights to install pipelines,? he added.
The bill obliges contractors to supply gas to the domestic market to guarantee a sustainable availability of the fuel locally despite complaints from gas investors that domestic gas prices were too low for them.
On Friday, an expert staff in the ministry of energy and mineral resources Kardaya Warnika, said gas would be widely used in Indonesia in the future and that Indonesia did not want that companies just export it.
?They must also supply for the local demand. If they don?t like that, they can leave the country,? Kardaya told said.
The obligation of supplying gas for the domestic market is among the five articles of the oil and gas bill which would cause problems for foreign investors, according to Natanegara. The other four articles included those concerning tax, the establishment of an executive body to supervise Indonesia?s oil and gas industry, the status of existing contracts, and the licensing of operations. (godang)