House cancels plan to travel to Batam to deliberate oil and gas bill
Monday, August 20 2001 - 02:23 AM WIB
Moeis told Media Indonesia that the available fund was only enough for 16 to 18 people. Meanwhile, the number of legislators grouped in the special team to deliberate the bill was 30.
If the fund was enough, Moeis said, they would proceed with the plan to soon complete the deliberation of the bill.
He contended that when the deliberation was held in Jakarta, some members of the team often skipped the deliberation for various reasons.
"If we could be gathered in a one place, there will be no reasons for them to leave the meeting," Moeis said.
Therefore, such an informal meeting outside Jakarta would still be needed.
"If possible to hold the meeting in Batam, we will proceed because in Batam, we will also inspect the oil and gas projects. Or, we could also conduct it in the House's villa in Cikopo, Puncak, West Java," he said.
When asked who will bear the cost, Moeis said that it would be shared between the House and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
Meanwhile, a source at the ministry said that the planned meeting in Batam had been initiated by the Directorate General of Oil and Gas.
Even the director of exploration and production at the directorate general, Amir Moeis, has sent letters to a number of production sharing contractors (PSC) grouped in the consortium of natural gas suppliers from West Natuna to Singapore - Conoco, Gulf, Premier Oil and Devon (formerly Santa Fe) - to bear all the costs of the planned meeting in Batam.
The PSC companies were asked to cover all the costs, including air fares, per diem money for legislators during their stay in Batam, the cost to play golf and stay in Novotel Hotel in Batam. All costs are projected to total around Rp 200 million to Rp 300 million.
"The letters were sent directly to the PSCs, without copies sent to Pertamina. In fact, the control over the management of PSC lies with Pertamina's PSC management division," the source said. (*)