Jakarta is not transparent about oil and gas revenues

The provincial administration of South Sumatra has charged that the central government is not transparent enough about the amount of revenues raised from gas and oil activities in each province in the country. The data provided by oil and gas producers to the local administrations is also doubted, Kompas reported on Monday.

Satya Nazori, the deputy governor of South Sumatra said that up to now the provincial administration did not know how much the contribution of the province to the country?s total revenue from oil and gas production.

?We have for several times asked Pertamina, the branch office here or to its headquarter, but w never receive clear explanation,? he said in a hearing with members of the Commission III of the provincial legislative council.

According to the existing data, South Sumatra contributes about 8.9 percent or the fifth bigger contributor after Riau, East Kalimantan, Aceh and Papua. The largest contribution is made by Riau with 53 percent, and East Kalimantan 25 percent. But he said he doubted the data. (*)