Thailand
Indonesia: Government Admits Difficulties in Collecting Debts
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry admitted that they are having difficulties in collecting debts in the oil and gas upstream sector because most oil and gas company contracts have expired.
“Many of their [contracts] have been terminated. What should we do?” said Inspector General of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Mochtar Husein to Tempo on Tuesday, March 28, 2017.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has handed over its authority to collect debts to the Special Task Force on Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas). Up until the middle of March 2017, as many 25 companies have not paid their commitment fee to the government.
In an attempt to get confirmation on the issue, Tempo had attempted to contact SKK Migas spokesman Taslim Z Yunus. However, Taslim is still currently cannot be reached for comments.
Mocthar said that the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has provided a deadline for companies to pay their debts by June 2017, at the latest.
However, Mochtar refused to explain about further steps that will be taken by the government if the companies still have not paid their debts past the deadline.
“The [Energy and Mineral Resources] Minister provided a deadline until June 2017,” Mochtar said.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2017/03/29/056860490/Government-Admits-Difficulties-in-Collecting-Debts