Debates on controversial oil and gas bill intensifies

Debates on controversial oil and gas bill intensifies

JAKARTA (JP): Debates on the controversial oil and gas bill
have intensified as Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro
Mangkusubroto lobbies hard to win approval from the House of
Representatives.

Leading oil and gas executives, government officials and
analysts debated the bill in two separate workshops on Wednesday.
The seminars were organized by the Indonesian Society for
Transparency and the Management Institute at the School of
Economics at the University of Indonesia.

Some analysts described the bill as riddled with loopholes.

They criticized Kuntoro for trying to diminish the role of
state oil and gas company Pertamina in the industry by
eliminating its monopoly on the downstream sector and stripping
it of the right to award contracts and regulate and manage oil
and gas contractors.

Other analysts, defending the bill's objective to eliminate
Pertamina's monopoly, argued the new legislation would empower
the company and create a more efficient oil and gas industry in
the next millennium.

"The bill contains many loopholes. It features guidelines
which are too broad. As such, it will be dependent heavily on
government regulations," economist Sri Mulyani of the University
Indonesia said at the workshop organized by the Indonesian
Society for Transparency.

President of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia Baihaki Hakim shared
Mulyani's view that the bill specified broad guidelines only. But
he gave the thumbs up to the bill's objective of eliminating
monopolistic practices in the country's oil and gas industry.

"The era of etatism, in which the state controls business
enterprises, is over across the world. This is the spirit of the
bill, which will usher the country's oil and gas industry into
the next millennium," Baihaki said.

Kuntoro and former president of Arco Indonesia, Tengku Nathan
Machmud, were also keynote speakers at the workshop.

Pertamina's top officials were conspicuously absent from the
forum. Pertamina's president Martiono Hadianto was scheduled to
speak at the gathering but did not show up.

The University of Indonesia workshop had the appearance of a
counter-seminar, as Pertamina officials dominated proceedings.

Also attending were members of the so-called Group of 20 --
former Pertamina officials and Ministry of Mines and Energy
officials -- who recently voiced strong criticisms of the bill.

Keynote speakers were former minister of mines and energy
Mohammad Sadli and Deputy Governor of the National Resilience
Institute Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

The 46-chapter bill contains a number of points which analysts
say will fundamentally change the face of the country's oil and
gas industry.

First, it will lift the monopoly on the country's oil and gas
downstream sector awarded to Pertamina in the Law of 1971. It
will also allow foreign enterprises to develop refineries and
market products for the domestic market.

Second, the government will take over the rights granted to
Pertamina to award oil and gas exploration and production
contracts and to regulate and manage oil and gas contractors.

Third, the bill allows oil and gas contractors to choose types
of contracts other than the production sharing contract (PSC) for
operations. Currently, the PSC system is obligatory.

Mulyani and Purnomo cautioned against the potential disruption
in the country's fuel distribution system if the downstream
sector was opened to foreign enterprises.

They said foreign companies, driven by profit, would prefer to
sell fuel in the densely populated islands of Java and Sumatra,
and would leave the task of distributing fuel in remote areas to
Pertamina.

Foreign contractors would sell profitable fuel such as premium
gasoline, while leaving the sale of unprofitable ones such as
kerosene for Pertamina, they said.

Speakers at both workshops doubted the government's ability to
manage oil and gas contractors. They proposed that a special
independent agency, as well as the ministry and Pertamina,
perform the task.

"The members of the special body should be well paid so that
they will not be vulnerable to corruption in regulating and
supervising oil and gas contractors," Sadli said.

Baihaki and Machmud said oil and gas investors were not
concerned about who would run the supervisory agency as long as
they retained ample control of their operations.

"Investors want to regain control of their operations in
reaction to Pertamina's heavy-handed management and increasing
control," Machmud said, adding that foreign investors preferred
to adopt "a wait-and-see attitude" regarding the bill. (jsk)