Minister says caretaker unit won?t favor foreign investors

By Godang Sitompul

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik, who has been assigned to lead a caretaker unit taking over the role and function of the now defunct BPMIGAS, said that under his leadership the temporary oil and gas upstream authority will not favor foreign investors and will focus among others on improving efficiency..

?The ex-BPMIGAS will be far more efficient and won?t favor foreign (investors),? he said on Monday during a meeting with former BPMIGAS employees, who all have been transferred to the caretaker unit placed under the ministry.

Jero said that in the past, the old BPMIGAS had been much criticized for being inefficient and providing too much favor to foreign investors.

Elsewhere, Jero said that he had met with some top officials of oil and gas production sharing contractors (PSCs) in the country to brief then about the recent closure of BPMIGAS and the establishment of the caretaker unit.

He added that all contracts signed with PSCs remain valid despite the closure of BPMIGAS, and that the PSCs have ?no problem? with the latest changes in the upstream oil and gas regulatory.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak