Regulation hampers Pertamina to develop new oil, gas fields

A regulation has hampered the development of a number of new oil fields in the country such as those owned by Pertamina in Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan, a senior official at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has said.

Director General of Oil and Gas Evita Herawati Legowo said in Jakarta on Tuesday that a number of Pertamina?s oil fields had been offered to other companies under a joint operation agreement (KSO) but no companies were willing to jointly operate the fields because the regulation.

?Under the regulation, the government?s production split from an oil, gas field should be not below with those provided by the nearby fields. It is difficult to be implemented because each field has different production rate,? she said on the sidelines of the 34th Association of Indonesian Petroleum (IPA) Convention and Exhibition.

Had there been no such regulation and production split was determined based on potentials of each field, Pertamina could have produced an additional between 10,000 and 15,000 barrels per day.

Pertamina's president Karen Agistiawan acknowledged that the regulation had hampered the development of the company?s oil fields.

She said that the government had promised to change the regulation. ?How the regulation will be changed? Just wait and see,? she added.

Evita said she hoped the regulation has been changed prior to the development of Pertamina?s oil fields to be offered through joint operation contracts this year. (godang)