SKK Migas to terminate 18 contracts

By Godang Sitompul

Upstream authority SKK Migas will terminate 18 oil and gas exploration contracts due to the poor performance of the contract holders.

?There are 18 contracts that will be terminated this year. Why? Because there are 160 contracts whose holders are performing well, while the holders of these 18 contracts have failed to meet their contractual obligation and continued facing problems,? Chairman of SKK Migas Rudi Rubiandini said on Monday.

He did not specify the 18 contracts. He only said the holders of the 18 contracts were confronted with technical and non-technical problems.

Regarding problems faced in the industry, he said, 33 percent of them are related to permits, land overlapping and other non-technical matters, 24 percent caused by financial problems faced by the contract holders, 21 percent due to lack of service and goods and 10 percent due to lack of geologists and geophysicists, and 8 percent due to technical matters.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon