N. Sumatra complains about oil earnings

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The North Sumatra province has filed a protest against a decree issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources which failed to mention two regencies in the province as oil producers.

Washington Tambunan, the head of the province's energy and mineral resources, said on Friday that as the result of the mistake, the Deli Serdang and Binjai regencies could not share the government's oil earnings this year.

Washington suspected the ministry of manipulating the data on the province's oil production, that the two regencies were not put on the list of the country's oil producing regencies stipulated in the ministerial decree issued April 22.

"In fact, (state oil and gas company) Pertamina has exploited oil at the Wampu well in Binjai and the Pantai Pakem Timur well in Deli Serdang for more than ten years," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that last year, the two regencies had been put on the list of oil producers and, thereby, received a Rp 7.1 billion share of the government's oil earnings.

Washington said his office had sent a letter to the ministry on April 26 to protest the decree and to ask the ministry to put the two regencies on the list of oil producers.

The provincial administration has also sent a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs to protest the decree. In the letter, the administration also invited the ministry's officials to visit the province to verify that the two regencies produce oil.

Under the Intergovernmental Fiscal Balance Law No. 25/1999, oil producing regencies have the right to receive the government's net oil earnings.