Joint decree in place to regulate geothermal assets

By Romel S. Gurky

A joint ministerial decree has been enacted to regulate the ownership of geothermal assets from a joint operation contract between state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and partners.

The decree was signed by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Finance Minister and State Owned Enterprises Minister.

According to a copy of the decree obtained by Petromindo.com Tuesday, the geothermal assets under such contract ? which could be in the form of both upstream and downstream assets - will belong to PT Pertamina as a state capital participation.

The amount of the state capital participation will be determined by the Finance Minister, based on a joint calculation with officials from the Finance Ministry, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, State Owned Enterprises Ministry and PT Pertamina.

PT Pertamina then has to transfer the asset ownership to a subsidiary which is established to carry out geothermal business activities. For the purpose of securing the financing for the project under the joint operation contract, PT Pertamina or its subsidiary can put assets as collateral to another party.

Editing by Dadan Wijaksana