Incentives for oil, gas exploration to be completed May

By Ruli Setiawan

The government is moving ahead to expedite the completion of the planned incentives designed to help boost oil and gas exploration activities in the country, which hopefully could be unveiled during the upcoming Indonesian Petroleum Association (IPA) conference and convention in the middle of May of this year.

?Together with the upstream authority SKK Migas, we?re working intensively on what kind of incentives suitable (to boost) exploration activities: whether it is fiscal or non-fiscal,? said Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, A. Edy Hermantoro on Monday.

The incentives are seen crucial to help push exploration activities as part of efforts to increase future oil and gas reserves in the country.

Edy also warned oil and gas production sharing contractors operating in the country to live up to their commitments as stated in the contracts. Those which fail to meet the commitments may risk their contracts being terminated by the government, he added.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak