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Ministry opens oil and gas data to boost exploration, exploitation
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry recently announced a regulation that will open access for industry stakeholders to the nation’s oil and gas data that is expected to encourage exploration and exploitation in a time of need.
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Tapping potentials – A field officer of oil and gas producer PT Saka Energi Indonesia, a subsidiary of state gas producer PT Perusahaan Gas Negara, introduces oil exploration techniques to students of SMA 1 Manyar state senior high school in Gresik, East Java, on Oct.10. (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
T
he Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry recently announced a regulation that will open access for industry stakeholders to the nation’s oil and gas data, which is expected to encourage exploration and exploitation in a time of need.
Deputy minister Arcandra Tahar introduced last week the revised Ministerial Regulation No. 7/2019, saying that it was expected to ramp up domestic oil and gas exploration in meeting the country’s growing energy demands without widening the billion-dollar trade deficit.
“It’s better for us to open the data and allow those who have the necessary skills to freely see the data,” he told reporters in Jakarta, adding that such skilled individuals included domestic and foreign academics, engineers and investors.
Arcandra’s point is best captured by Article 5, which not only authorizes the ministry to receive both raw and analyzed data related to oil and gas activity in Indonesia but to also share such data, which have passed a period of confidentiality, with every ministry-registered organization.
The rest of the regulation details rules related to data storage specifications (Attachment II), transferring data abroad (Article 31) and a data amnesty program (Article 46) for companies that have not submitted required data to the ministry, among other things.
Indonesia stored 3.15 billion barrels worth of proven oil reserves and burned through 450.78 million barrels of fuel last year, ministry data show. Assuming the country continued a consistent burning rate, existing proven oil reserves would only last another seven years.
The government expects the regulation to help accelerate exploration into 4.36 billion barrels of potential oil reserves, which might extend the domestic oil supply lifetime by up to nine years, and into 39.49 trillion standard cubic feet of potential gas reserves.
