Riau?s special team will meet gas operators in Natuna

A special team assigned by Riau provincial administration to monitor oil and gas developments in the province will meet gas operators on Natuna island in a bid to seek a first hand information about the gas exploration and production on the island, Riau Post reported on Monday.

The provincial team and the team of the Natuna regency administration would hold a meeting with the gas operators to ensure that the local government would receive 30 percent from the revenue received by the government from the gas production on the island.

According to the autonomy law, the provincial administration will receive 30 percent of the government revenues received from gas production in on-land gas fields and off-shore gas fields located less than 12 miles from the shore.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that the gas developments off Natuna islands are in full control of the central government because they are all located outside the 12 miles economic zone.

The Riau government, however, insists that the local government is entitled to receive the 30 percent revenue split. Of the 30 percent revenue given to the local government, six percent must go to the regency where the gas production areas are located, 6 percent to nearby regencies in the provinces and three percent to the provincial administration.

A consortium of world?s major oil and gas companies including Conoco, Gulf Indonesia Resource and Premier Oil are currently developing several offshore gas fields on the island. Indonesia?s gas major producer ExxonMobil is also exploring gas off East Natuna.(*)