Implementation of environmental law delayed

Upstream oil, gas regulator BPMIGAS and the Ministry of Environment have compromised to give oil and gas contractors three year at the latest to abide by the stipulation on the environmental quality standard as set in the Law No. 32/2009 on Environment Protection and Management.

BPMIGAS?s deputy of operational control division Budi Indianto said as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia that in their recent meeting, BPMIGAS and the Ministry of Environment had agreed to give contractors a transitional period to enable them to adhere to stipulation on environmental quality standard.

In February 2010, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said that the new environmental law is not an excuse for oil and gas production sharing contractors to miss the national production target.

Despite the law, Darwin insisted the government would fight it out to meet, if not exceed, the national oil and gas production target. He said the government would improve efficiency, such as streamlining the bureaucratic procedure, to enable the contractors curb expenditures.

Director General of Oil and Gas Evita H. Legowo said on Feb. 24, 2010, the implementation of the 2009 environmental law would risk reducing the national oil and gas production by 40 percent and adversely affecting investment in the sector. (*)