Oil and gas law should be amended

The oil and gas law, which gives a full authority to state oil and gas company Pertamina to manage the country's oil and gas resources should be amended and synchronized to the provincial regulations, Riau Pos reported on Wednesday.

Ruskin Har, the head of the public relations department at the Riau governor office, said on Tuesday that the implementation of the autonomy law next year would allow provincial administration to issue their own regulations to manage their natural resources.

He said that the existing oil and gas law which assigns Pertamina as the sole holder of oil and gas concession rights in the country could become a barrier in the autonomy spirit if the government did not want to amend the legislation.

"The current oil and gas law should be adjusted to the autonomy spirit so that provincial governments will be able manage their mineral resources themselves," he said.

The Riau province, the country's largest oil producer, has demanded to take over the management of the Coastal Plains Pekanbaru (CPP) oil block currently being operated Caltex Pacific Indonesia when its contract expired next year. But the existing law has blocked its plan. (*)