No oil and gas contractor will leave Indonesia: Pertamina

State oil and gas company Pertamina on Thursday denied reports that four oil and gas production sharing contractors had planned to stop doing business in Indonesia due to their disagreement on some articles of the new oil and gas law.

?Such reports are groundless. No contractor will leave Indonesia,? Pertamina?s general affairs senior manager Siddik Nitikusumah told Petromindo.com.

Petromindo.com quoted a source as saying on Wednesday that the four included two major enterprises. Of them, two are already in operation, one had been scheduled to start operation before long, and the other one is still in the exploration phase, according to the source.

The new law on oil and gas, which aims to liberalize Indonesia?s oil and gas industry by ending Pertamina?s supervisory roles it had held for over 30 years, obliges contractors to supply gas to the domestic market so as to guarantee supplies.

It also obliges them to undertake community development work, something which was not provided for under the previous law. (*)