Pertamina Must Take Over Blok Siak

Pekanbaru (Antara Bali) - Pertamina as a state-owned oil company must take over the Blok Siak oil field from Chevron whose contract is to end later this year, oil observer Kurtubi said.

"Pertamina had better take over the Blok Siak oil field than investing overseas. The oil field is already in production which could be continued," Kurtubi said here on Sunday.

The 22 year oil production sharing contract with PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia over the Blok Siak will expire on November 27, 2013.

According to Kurtubi, based on Law 22 / 2001 on oil and gas, Blok Siak oil field when the term of contract is already over should be returned to the government through the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Task Force (SKK-Migas).

So far, based on Antara's records, only Chevron and regional government-owned company (BUMD) have submitted a proposal to continue the exploitation of the oil block.

"A state firm (Pertamina) and the BUMD are the ideal parties to run the oil field so that all production will return to the state, not be shared with another country," Kurtubi said. (*/M038)