Tendering of oil and gas fields legally flawed
Saturday, July 28 2001 - 02:52 AM WIB
The tendering of oil fields by the government violates Law No. 8/1971 on oil and gas and Law No. 44/1960 on Pertamina as well as Government Regulation No. 35/1994 on PSC, according to oil and gas expert R.O Hupaea.
According to Hutapea, Article 3 of Law No. 44/1960 and Article 11 of Law No. 8/1971 stipulates that the government entrusted oil and gas fields to a state enterprise.
However, in the tendering, the directorate general did not give the oil and gas fields to a state firm, although the signing of the PSC contracts was conducted state oil and gas company Pertamina on behalf of the government.
The signing of the contracts by Pertamina on behalf of the government could entail legal problems in the future, as PSC companies could later claim the government's assets overseas whenever there is a dispute among them.
Meanwhile, the prevailing laws stipulate that in case there are disputes, the disputes should stop between Pertamina and its contracting parties, and they should not go to the government.
The government has completed the tendering of nine oil and gas blocks. They are 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). (*)