Oil, gas draft law completed

Oil, gas draft law completed

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Mines and Energy has finished
drafting the new oil and gas law, which is to be handed over to
the House of Representatives for deliberation.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Energy Budhi Sulistyo
said on Tuesday the ministry expects the House to pass the bill
into law by March.

Budhi said in a statement the law had been drafted by a cross-
ministerial team for months on input provided by various parties,
including oil and gas industry experts, the Indonesian Petroleum
Association (IPA), the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, World Bank, oil and gas companies operating in the
country and non-government organizations.

The new law will, among other things, lift the monopoly held
by state company Pertamina on the downstream sector of the oil
and gas industry.

Budhi said the ministry is currently composing a draft
governmental regulation for the implementation of the new law so
the law could be brought into effect as soon as the it gets
through the House. (jsk)