Edy Hermantoro: (esdm.go.id)The newly appointed oil and gas director general of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Edy Hermantoro, is facing a tough challenge to keep the country’s business climate for the hydrocarbon sector attractive for investors ahead the 2014 general election.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik on Thursday officially installed the 56-year-old Edy, previously the secretary to the oil and gas directorate general and former director of the ministry’s upstream oil and gas sector, as the new oil and gas chief at the ministry.

Born in Yogyakarta on Oct. 7, 1956, Edy graduated from the geology school of the National Development University (UPN) Veteran Yogyakarta in 1983. He received his master’s degree in business policy from the University of Indonesia in 2003.

He once represented Indonesia at the Organization of the Petr...