House, govt agree to revise oil and gas law
Wednesday, June 16 2010 - 07:37 AM WIB
?All factions have agreed to revise the oil and gas law. One particular article that will be revised is about the stipulation on maximum domestic market obligation (DMO) of 25 percent. The word 'maximum' should be deleted,? said Tengku Rifky, the chairman of the House?s Commission VII, which oversees among others mining and energy affairs, in Jakarta.
Currently, he said, a team consisting of members of the Commission IV, VI, VII, is working on an academic draft of the revision together with officials from the Office of Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, Trade Ministry, Industry Ministry, and Agriculture Ministry.
Some governmental officials were reluctant to revise the law. Director General of Oil and Gas Evita H. Legowo, for instance, said in March this year:?We?re confused which articles need revision as we?ve considered all articles of the law are good.?
Coordinating Minister of the Economy Hatta Radjasa said on Wednesday the government had agreed to revise the law.
The House took the step after its special committee on oil and gas recommended in September last year to revise the law.
Many people have stated about the urgency of revising the oil and gas law due to the declining trend in the national oil and gas production since 2001, when the law was passed. A number of them even asked for an abolition of upstream oil, gas regulator BPMIGAS and a revival of the old system where Pertamina was in charge of oil and gas businesses.
Among those calling for the revision of the law no. 22/2001 was Gita Wirjawan, the chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). ?Basically, I agree with such a revision to make it investment friendly. Isn?t it a pro-investment policy that we need to attract investments?,? he said. (bernard)