Govt needs to issue transparency standards for oil and gas companies
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian International Transparency (TII) non-governmental organization (NG) and the Publish What You Pay coalition had urged the government to issue rulings and standards impelling oil and gas companies operating in Indonesia to carry out their business activities transparently.
"The government needs to have the guts to tell the oil and gas companies to be more transparent, as many of them have been hiding behind the socalled secrecy clause," coordinator of the Publish What You Pay coalition Ridaya Laodengkowe said during the launching of a TII Report on Transparency of Oil and Gas Companies` Income 2008 in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The lack of transparency, especially in the companies` payments to the state, will seriously affect the state`s revenue.
"As the result of the lack of information, the state`s revenue from the oil and gas sector had dropped from Rp135 trillion in 2006 to Rp75 trillion in 2007, although these are not the official figures," Riyada said.
In this context, Riyada who is also Working Group member of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) urged the government to immediately issue transparency standards for extractive sector players in the form of a law.
Under this law, the validity of reports on the state`s revenue from the oil and gas sector could be verified.
"In the past, payments from the oil and gas companies to the government always lacked transparency and the data had never been verified," he added.
The TII report showed that most of the 42 evaluated companies in the places of their operations failed to submit a complete report on their payments to the state.
Of all the companies which had been surveyed, only Talisman Energy and CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) had been fairly frank and open to the public on their performance.
"And even this is thanks to their legal obligation in their home country. Most of the companies, however, have only a medium transparency level about their performance and achievements, as Indonesia as host country did not apply high transparency standards to, for instance, its contracts (secrecy clause)," Riyada said.
Pertamina
In the meantime Deputy Secretary Genenral of TII Rezki Wibowo said that 16 of the oil and gas companies which had been surveyed were classified under the category of companies with a very low transparency standard, one of which is state oil and gas PT Pertamina.
"Its transparency is very low, especially when it comes to payments to the state and the anti-corruption program. The only favorable point is its regulations on the procurement of goods and serevices," Rezki said.
In this context, member of the expert staff of the President Director of Pertamina Didi Sunarwinadi said that actually since the middle of last year Pertamina already has an anti-graft program.
"In June this year we will dedicate a "whistle blowing" system, which enables anybody to report a deviation in Pertamina, while his or her identity will be kept secret," Didi said.
In its business operations, like building public gas filling stations (SPBU), and applications for the job of a gas distributor, Pertamina provides an online service.
"There will be no face to face contacts," he pointed out.(*)
"The government needs to have the guts to tell the oil and gas companies to be more transparent, as many of them have been hiding behind the socalled secrecy clause," coordinator of the Publish What You Pay coalition Ridaya Laodengkowe said during the launching of a TII Report on Transparency of Oil and Gas Companies` Income 2008 in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The lack of transparency, especially in the companies` payments to the state, will seriously affect the state`s revenue.
"As the result of the lack of information, the state`s revenue from the oil and gas sector had dropped from Rp135 trillion in 2006 to Rp75 trillion in 2007, although these are not the official figures," Riyada said.
In this context, Riyada who is also Working Group member of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) urged the government to immediately issue transparency standards for extractive sector players in the form of a law.
Under this law, the validity of reports on the state`s revenue from the oil and gas sector could be verified.
"In the past, payments from the oil and gas companies to the government always lacked transparency and the data had never been verified," he added.
The TII report showed that most of the 42 evaluated companies in the places of their operations failed to submit a complete report on their payments to the state.
Of all the companies which had been surveyed, only Talisman Energy and CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) had been fairly frank and open to the public on their performance.
"And even this is thanks to their legal obligation in their home country. Most of the companies, however, have only a medium transparency level about their performance and achievements, as Indonesia as host country did not apply high transparency standards to, for instance, its contracts (secrecy clause)," Riyada said.
Pertamina
In the meantime Deputy Secretary Genenral of TII Rezki Wibowo said that 16 of the oil and gas companies which had been surveyed were classified under the category of companies with a very low transparency standard, one of which is state oil and gas PT Pertamina.
"Its transparency is very low, especially when it comes to payments to the state and the anti-corruption program. The only favorable point is its regulations on the procurement of goods and serevices," Rezki said.
In this context, member of the expert staff of the President Director of Pertamina Didi Sunarwinadi said that actually since the middle of last year Pertamina already has an anti-graft program.
"In June this year we will dedicate a "whistle blowing" system, which enables anybody to report a deviation in Pertamina, while his or her identity will be kept secret," Didi said.
In its business operations, like building public gas filling stations (SPBU), and applications for the job of a gas distributor, Pertamina provides an online service.
"There will be no face to face contacts," he pointed out.(*)