OIL & GAS BILL: Govt does not breach oil and gas law on tendering of oil fields
Friday, July 20 2001 - 04:13 AM WIB
Kardaya said that according to the prevailing laws and regulations, it is stipulated that the authority over oil and gas fields was at the hand of the government, while state oil and gas company Pertamina acted as an operator.
He noted that although oil and gas fields had been granted to Pertamina, they belong to the state, in this case the government.
According to Law No. 44/1960, Kardaya said, it is stipulated that whenever no state company takes the responsibility and authority over oil and gas blocks, then a minister should take it over.
He explained that even after the passage of Law No. 8/1971, the government still took the authority over the licensing of oil and gas blocks. The government still held that authority until year 1975.
At that time, the late Ibnu Sutowo, then Pertamina president, presided over a team to negotiate the licensing of oil and gas fields to private contractors. Ibnu Sutowo, however, acted on behalf of the director general of oil and gas, and not as a Pertamina president.
Because Ibnu Sutowo provided offices for people involved in the team in Pertamina headquarters, the works seemed to be the works of Pertamina. When these people were not anymore members of the team, the works were transferred to Pertamina people. And this began the transferring of licensing authority to Pertamina.
Earlier, oil and gas expert Kurtubi and oil businessman Ramses O Hutapea blamed the government for violating Law No. 8/1971 by taking over the tendering and licensing of oil and gas fields from Pertamina, while the new oil and gas bill that would replace Law No. 8/1971 was still being deliberated in the House.
As long as the bill had not been passed into law, the government should stick to implement Law No. 8/1971 that grants Pertamina an exclusive rights over the tendering and licensing of oil and gas fields.
Therefore, Kurtubi and Ramses claimed that the recent tendering of nine oil and gas blocks had violated the prevailing regulations, especially Law No. 8/1971 on Pertamina.
The nine oil and gas blocks on offer to investors comprise of six deep water oil and gas blocks in Makassar Straits (Popodi, Donggala, Papalang, Taritip, Jangeru, and Tanjung Aru), two blocks in Java Sea (Bawean I and Bawean II), and one block in Natuna sea (Nila).
The tender was opened for investors on March 1, 2001 and was closed in June, 2001. To supports the tendering, the government also sold geological data of the blocks through PT Patra Nusa Data to prospective bidders. Earlier any purchase of geological data should have been pursued through Pertamina and not PT Patra Nusa Data. It is not clear yet who owns Patra Nusa Data. (*)