Supreme Court rules in favor of BPH Migas in dispute with Conoco

By Godang Sitompul

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of downstream regulator BPH Migas in dispute with American firm ConocoPhilips over toll fee payable by the company to PT Transportasi Gas Indonesia (TGI) for the transmission of its gas from Grissik in South Sumatra to Singapore.

?The Supreme Court rejected the petition filed by ConocoPhilips. The Court argued that Conoco did not have strong (legal) basis to file the petition given the fact the administrative court had ruled in favor of BPH Migas. The Attorney General?s Office has also rejected the petition,? Joko Siswanto, a lawyer representing BPH Migas, told Petromindo.com

The copy of the Court?s ruling is not immediately available to Petromindo.

Conoco has filed a petition to review the decree issued by BPH Migas in August 2010 to raise the toll fee through the TGI pipeline from 75 US cents per mscf from 69 cents per mscf. The decree was issued following a request form TGI which said it needed an increase in toll fee to cover the rising investment for the pipeline. Conoco argued BPH Migas did not have right to issue the decree.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon