New director of PSC management vows to boost efficiency
Wednesday, January 10 2001 - 02:30 AM WIB
New head of state oil and gas company Pertamina's directorate for the management of production sharing contractors (PSC) vowed on Monday to boost efficiency in the operations of PSC and speed up the licensing process.
Iin Arifin Takhyan told Petromindo.Com that he would make the efficiency improvement program and the revamping of licensing procedure the main agenda of his office.
The efficiency improvement program would cut the operational cost of PSCs and thus increase the government's revenue from oil and gas, he said.
"Besides, we shall impose international best practices in PSCs' working environment," he said in an exclusive interview.
He refused however to provide details on his plans to carry out the programs, saying he was still in the phase of adjusting himself to his new job.
He also said he would revamp the organization of his direcorate, which was formerly called the foreign contractors management body (BPPKA).
"I was given by Pertamina's president (Baihaki Hakim) two months to finish a concept for the restructuring of the directorate's organization," Iin said.
He was accompanied by BPPKA's former head Heru Cokro and the directorate's exploration and production division head M. Trijana during the interview.
Iin said basically, the scope of work of his directorate was similar to one assigned to BPPKA, that is to manage the country's production sharing contractors, which are mostly foreign investors.
The difference was only that the directorate of PSC management now holds greater right and responsibility to manage the PSCs than BPPKA did.
"This organization become more independent after its status is being changed into a directorate.
"In the past, it had to report to the exploration and production directorate and the financial directorate. Today, we handle everything by ourselves. Thus, the procedure (for making decision on PSC management) has been significantly cut," Iin explained.
He said his office would supervise the operation of a total of 135 production sharing contractors in the country.
Iin was an expert staffer to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and secretary for Pertamina's board of commissioners until he was installed as Pertamina's director of PSC management on Jan. 3 this year together with other new leaders of Pertamina.
Born in Tasikmalaya, West Java in Feb. 16, 1952, Iin now has two children.
He was graduated from the Oil Technology School of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology in 1977 and received a master degree in energy and environmental economics from the University of Auckland in New Zealand in 1993.
Analysts say Pertamina's directorate of PSC management won't exist long as the government has planned to form an indepedent body to manage and supervise PSCs.
The government has submitted to the House of Representatives a draft bill on oil and gas which among others calls for the establishment of such agency.
The House and the government are scheduled to start discussing the bill this month. (Godang/Epin)