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s energy prices continue to plunge, players in the country’s oil and gas industry are calling on the government to provide new incentives and push policy reform to woo investment and revive the ailing sector.

For the last two years, global oil prices have been in free fall from around US$110 per barrel of Brent crude in June 2014 to around $40, as of recently, resulting in mass layoffs and halted expansion in many countries, including Indonesia.

Efforts to develop gas projects in the country have also been met with stumbling blocks, as most of the projects are either remote, in deepwater or marginal, making them economically unviable amid the current low commodity prices.

Although the government has pledged to introduce a number of new measures, including flexibility for contractors to extend exploration duration and incentives for projects in deepwater and remote areas, industry players’ concerns relate to on when such incentives will take effect.

Medco E&P president director Ronald Gunawan said a number of incentives to boost the oil and gas industry had been discussed for some time, but most of them went nowhere.

“The government must quickly implement their proposed incentives. We’re worried that it will take time for the incentives to be implemented after they’re issued through a regulation,” Ronald said Wednesday on the sidelines of the 40th Indonesia Petroleum Association Convention and Exhibition (IPA Convex).

Apart from incentives, the government, Ronald said, must also streamline bureaucracy at the local and regional level to help speed up permit issuance.

Santos Indonesia president and general manager Ignatius Tenny Wibowo said the government’s willingness to take new approaches to manage the energy sector would help the country improve its competitiveness in the sector.

“The government must assure investors that if [they] invest in Indonesia, they see good returns. These are the steps the government can take during such a situation,” said Tenny, who also serves as IPA vice president.

Tenny said neighboring countries such as Vietnam were scrambling to increase their competitiveness with various incentives and facilities. If Indonesia did not take real steps soon, investors will turn to other countries, he said.

During the forum, which will run until Friday, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director general for oil and gas, I Gusti Nyoman Wiratmaja, said the government was preparing a number of incentives to boost the energy sector in a new regulation the government planned to issue in the third quarter.

Among the incentives are flexibility to extend exploration duration, incentives for projects in deepwater and remote areas and easing data access.

The government, he said, was also considering making a major change in tenders for its blocks: production splits and signature bonus figures will be determined by tender participants as opposed to the fixed figure determined by the government.

The changes are aimed at attracting investors after last year’s tenders failed to do so. Last year, nine oil and gas blocks were up for tender, but none gained a winning bidder. This year, 15 oil and gas blocks nationwide will be up for tender.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution, meanwhile, said the government would also make changes in the “basic design” of the oil and gas industry to adapt to the current situation.

Exxon Mobile Indonesia spokesman Erwin Maryoto also said the incentives were a positive sign toward a more competitive Indonesia. However, he stressed that improvements were needed in all institutions involved in the oil and gas industry, not only in the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry but also local administrations and the Environment and Forestry Ministry.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo selected in March an onshore liquefaction (OLNG) concept to develop the Masela project, which sits on almost 11 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the Arafura Sea, making it the country’s largest deepwater gas project.

His decision, however, has sparked concern among existing and potential investors as it overruled the recommendations of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas), his energy and mineral resources minister and the oil and gas contractors, Inpex-Shell, which all chose a floating LNG (FLNG) concept.