Oil Law Revision to be Wrapped Up Next Year

Bangkalan (Antara) - A special Committee set up by the House of Representatives said it hopes revision of the Law on Oil and Gas could be wrapped up in 2014. Chairman of the committee for the revision Zainudin Amali said the revision is expected to be finished before the end of the term of the present parliament in October 2014. "It is not possible to finish the work this year. The time is too short, Zainuddin said here on Tuesday. Currently the House of Representatives is preparing parliamentary debate and gathering opinions from all factions, he said. The deputy chairman of the House Commission VII said there are a number of fundamental points that need revision in the present law on oil and gas. "One of the points concerns the share of the producing regions of the oil or gas production," he said. He said many oil and gas producing regions do not have share of the production from the exploitation of their natural wealth. "We want to hear the people's aspirations via the heads of regional administrations. Therefore, we could not finish the work soon as expected as we are still awaiting more inputs," he said. In East Java, for example, there are a number of oil producing areas and the House of Representatives want to hear their aspirations, he said. (*)