Until 2015, there were 104 different kinds of permits to obtain if businesses wants to participate in Indonesia’s oil and gas sector. In 2016, that number shrank to 42. Recently, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan simplified the permit process by further reducing that number to six.
The change has been solidified in the ministry’s new regulation number 29 of 2017 pertaining to the law on “Permissions for Oil and Gas Businesses.”
“It’s been officially simplified. Now we just have six kinds of permits in the oil and gas field,” said the ministry’s General Director of Oil and Gas Ign Wiratmaja Puja, as quoted by Detik.
Of the six required permits, companies that want to join Indonesia’s oil and gas sector must obtain permits related to their processes, transportation, commercial activities and data utilization (and how to send it abroad) for oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the country.
According to the industry’s new streamlined operating procedure, the licensing process must be finished within ten to 15 days from when the ministry receives a completed application and all the valid requirements from the company in question.
Oil and gas companies will be able to process all six permits online by the end of 2017. There will be no need to queue in line to deal with officials or use intermediary agencies, the government said.
“We are already offering online service for transport permits. Our target is that by the end of 2017, we can offer full online service for all the six permits. Companies just need to complete an online application and we would immediately conduct the verification process,” said Puja.
But while the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has been simplifying permits, other related institutions still have more than 200 permits they need to get. Regarding the matter, Puja said that the ministry aims for other related spaces in the oil and gas industry to soon be simplified as well.
If all goes according to plan, Indonesia’s oil and gas business could soon become an easier and more transparent industry to join. This in turn should attract more foreign and local investors to the archipelago.
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