Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The ministry of energy and mineral resources has proposed that the government postpone the implementation of the 2009 law on environment for two year on fears it will severely hit oil and gas production.
"We have spoken with the coordinating minister for the economy to delay the law for at least two years, so that we can prepare our technology," Evita Herawati Legowo, the director general for oil and gas at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said in Jakarta late Thursday.
Evita said that the mining companies were now working to adjust mining systems to comply with the law, which could take some time.
"Several contractors would prefer to stop their activities rather than breaking the rules which could mean criminal punishments," she said, adding that oil production could drop significantly due to process changes.
Evita said the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh has sent a letter to the Coordinating Economic Minister to discuss the issue further. "The decline in oil production might influence state revenue. So, we have to do something," she said.
Darwin acknowledged that the new law on the environment would be a serious challenge to mining contractors. "The miners have to allocate additional budgets so that their mining systems protect the environment in the future," he said, adding that the government had to help the contractors, or oil production would drop.
Darwin insisted the government would fight it out to meet the oil production target by improving efficiency, for example, streamlining bureaucratic procedures to enable contractors to curb expenditure.
The new law requires business entities to secure environmental permits before beginning their operations. Permits can be issued by a minister, governor or regent, depending on the area of operation. A failure to secure environmental permits would result in the termination of the business license.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has said that the implementation of the 2009 environmental law would risk reducing national oil production by up to 40 percent.
This year, the government is targeting to produce 965,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) as in the 2010 national budget. Last year Indonesia produced about 960,000 bopd.
Some observers have said that ambiguities in the environment law made it difficult for companies to fulfill environmental standards and guidelines set by the new legislation.
The ministry argued that state-owned oil and gas producer PT Pertamina and US based leading oil producer Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) would be the two firms most effected by the new law.
Late Thursday Chevron general manager Bambang Pratesa confirmed the possibility that Chevron oil production could drop more 60 percent this year as the original company target for this year was to produce 400,000 bpd but instead a steep decline is now expected.
"The anticipated Chevron production will be fall to about 125,000 bpd, far down on our original target," Bambang told reporters. Oil and gas have traditionally contributed up to 30 percent of total state revenue.