House Mulls Options Available for SKK Migas Replacement

The government and the House of Representatives are still deliberating the revision of Law No. 22/2001 on Oil and Gas. One of the clauses in the new law is ordering the transfer of authority from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas) to a new institution.

House’s Energy Commission Lawmaker Mulyanto said a Special Business Entity on Oil and Gas as a definitive institution with authority on mining, gas, and oil would be established.

“An operator on upstream gas and oil that has two functions, namely regulator and operator,” he said on Sept 18.

Mulyanto went on that the special entity establishment was part of the mandate of the Constitution Court’s ruling that ordered the establishment of an operator that carried regulatory and executive functions.

“It will be different with SKK Migas which operates under the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry with limited operational function. The new institution resembles the authority of past time Pertamina or nowadays Petronas,” he said.

Separately, House’s Energy Commission Deputy Chief Maman Abdurrahman said there were three options available for SKK Migas’s institutional status. The first option was to merge SKK Migas with PT Pertamina. The second option was equipping SKK Migas with additional authorities. The third option was letting SKK Migas as it was, “meaning no innovation has been made.”