Minister issues offshore oil, gas operations site clearance regulation

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Darwin Zahedy Saleh has issued a regulation providing technical guidelines for oil and gas contractors to clear their offshore operating site.

The ministerial regulation effective Dec. 31, 2010, aims to ensure that contractors follow work safety rules and protect environment and infrastructure in the process of dissabmeling their offshore installation, the minisry said in its website.

The regulation stipulates that contractors must file their site clearance proposal with the directorate general of oil and gas through upstream oil and gas upstream sector regulator BPMIGAS along with all necessary documents and hold a presentation on the plan. The contractors must also hold a campaign to infomr the local community about the plan.

The oil and gas director general will review the proposal in 30 days at the latest from the date of its submission and approve the proposal within the next 10 days. The permit lasts for three years and is not extendable.

During the site clearance works, contractors have to apply technology that meets national, regional and international standards and employ quality human resources or hire national companies which are sanctioned by the directorate general for oil and gas.

The contractors shall report the site clearance work to the director general within 14 days after completion of the job and the director general will issue a site clearance certificate within the next 30 days. (godang)