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simpler licensing procedure for oil and gas businesses is unlikely to materialize anytime soon as the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is busy with identifying and assessing documents before handing them over to the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

The ministry previously said it would hand over license issuance for oil and gas-related investment to the BKPM'€™s one-stop services office before the end of the year.

However, discussions between the two offices have stagnated as the BKPM prioritizes electricity over any other sector.

'€œWe handle many sectors in the one-stop services, but electricity has been prioritized because it has end-to-end purposes and is essential for all industries. We are ready to handle investment licensing for the oil and gas sector as well,'€ BKPM deputy director for investment monitoring and implementation Azhar Lubis said on Thursday.

Azhar said his office would immediately start one-stop services for the oil and gas industry as soon as the ministry delegated its authority on the issue.

As reported earlier, the ministry plans to simplify the investment licensing of 10 business types in the upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors. The energy ministry'€™s acting chief for oil and gas, I Gusti Nyoman Wiratmadja, said the permits were previously handled by the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas).

The plan to simplify licensing procedures has been highly anticipated as oil and gas companies are currently required to apply for 85 types of permits and undergo 341 processes for the application, according to SKKMigas data.

The data also reveal that approximately 5,000 licenses are issued per year in the oil and gas sector, with 600,000 required documents. Oil and gas companies are required to apply for permits from at least 17 state institutions, such as the energy ministry, Finance Ministry, the National Police and the military, the data show.

Patuan Alfon, head of exploitation supervision at the energy ministry'€™s oil and gas directorate general, acknowledged discussions with the BKPM on the issue had stagnated as both offices needed to arrange standard operating procedures for one-stop services.

'€œThe licensing procedures for oil and gas exploration have become the main issue, so we are planning to set up an exploration committee to help simplify investment licensing,'€ Patuan said.

Marjolijn Wajong, president and general manager of oil and gas firm Santos Indonesia, a subsidiary of Australia-based Santos, said the efforts currently carried out by the energy ministry and the BKPM to simplify permit application should be formalized into a special project or team, which could help accelerate the process.

'€œState officials need to treat this as a project, with clear responsibilities and schedule. We hope there will be an interim solution to this issue before year-end, because we face the threat of an energy crisis,'€ she said.

BKPM data show total realized investment in the oil and gas sector for 2010-2014 stood at Rp 66.8 trillion (US$5.15 billion), far below the planned investment of Rp 251.3 trillion.

The ongoing plunge in oil prices has prompted companies working on oil gas blocks in Indonesia to cut back on investment this year as SKKMigas data show the combined work plan and budget stands at $22.2 billion, 13 percent lower than last year'€™s plan of $25.6 billion.

'€œAccording to my last assessment, total realized investment in the upstream oil and gas industry reached approximately $3 billion in the first quarter. It is due to a cyclical pattern of low spending in the early part of the year,'€ SKKMigas secretary-general Gde Pradnyana said.