High hopes on new energy minister to resolve pending issues

The upstream oil and gas regulator BPMIGAS expects the newly appointed Energy and Mineral Resources Minister (ESDM) Jero Wacik to address a number of pending issues quickly, such as approval of new gas contracts and plan of developments.

?There are at least 48 standing items which are hopefully approved soon by the newly appointed Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Jero Wacik,? said BPMIGAS spokesperson Gde Pradnyana.

He said those items include approval on gas price from Kepodang gas field, approval of sales and purchase agreement for gas from Block B, Natuna owned by Conocophillips, approval of LNG contracts and a number of plan of development (PoD) proposed by production sharing contractors (PSCs).

Gde said considering the apparent spirit of the new energy minister, he is confident that Minister Jero Wacik will speed up his decision on a number of pressing issues which were still on hold by previous minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh. (godang).