Civil society coalition of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia delivered the people-version of revision of Oil and Gas Law, to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) in discussion with MEMR last July. In this opportunity, Aryanto Nugroho, the Manager of Advocacy and Network PWYP Indonesia particularly highlighted some important points to be included in the revision of Oil and Gas Law. Among them are transparency and participation in the oil and gas management.
“The new Oil and Gas Law shall guarantee the access to information, participation, and justice for the community. Therefore, the government, Local Owned Enterprise, and contractors are obliged to build the information system and disclose the information to the community in order to fulfill their rights of information. Also to guarantee the community participation, the government is required to arrange the procedure of community participation,” said Aryanto.
PWYP Indonesia also underlined the institution which will hold the mining business authority. “We do not have any issue whether the new or existing SOEs which will hold the authority. Our focus is on the good corporate governance principle shall be upheld by the institution,” explained Aryanto.
The oil and gas fund also brought in the discussion. Such fund generated from state revenue in the oil and gas sector which is set aside and managed for certain purpose in transparent and accountable manner. According to Aryanto, the fund can be used for the oil and gas infrastructure development, the discovery of new oil-gas reserve, and transition to renewable energy.
PWYP Indonesia also proposed the establishment of Petroleum Fund as a form of intergenerational justice and an instrument to stabilize the local economy. The fund can be obtained from revenue sharing fund in the oil and gas sector as well as the dividend from participating interest in the downstream industry. In addition, the local government participation under the mechanism of participating interest (max. 10%) through the Local Owned Enterprise is also being highlighted. However, the Local Owned Enterprise can only cooperate with the
financial institution.
Prof Akhmad Syakhroza, the Special Staff of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources openly responded to the CSO opinion. The people-version of revision of Oil and Gas Law will be put as an insight for the law revision drafted by the government. Currently, the Oil and Gas Law is a parliament’s initiative and the government still waiting for the draft from parliament. Nevertheless, the government is also preparing their own oil and gas draft.