Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Calls Shell Resigning From Masela Without Responsibility

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif expressed his anger and disappointment with Shell because the transfer process took a long time and was complicated. It is known that Shell has a 35 percent participation right in the Masela Block which is also managed by Inpex which holds 65 percent of the shares.

Unmitigated, Arifin said the Dutch oil and gas company was not responsible after withdrawing from the Masela Block.

"Inpex has seriousness but I don't know that Shell is irresponsible," said Arifin when met by the media quoted on Saturday, May 27.

Arifin explained that the Plan of Development (POD) process occurred for a long time, namely 2019. Meanwhile, based on the agreement in the POD, it was stated that if in the five years since the PoD was agreed that this project would not develop, it would be returned to the state.

"Yes, in 5 years, if nothing is done, we will review it again, including the possibility of it being (returned to the state)," continued Arifin.

He said that the tough deal over management was detrimental to Indonesia. He also questioned why Shell was reluctant to release his participation rights from the Masela Block.

"What's wrong? If you don't want to, just do it right?" Arifin continued.

Just so you know, currently Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina is negotiating to take over 35 percent of the participation rights to the Masela Block from Shell.

Previously, the Director General (Dirjen) of Oil and Gas (Migas) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tutuka Ariadji, conveyed the progress of the negotiations.

Tutuka said that currently the negatation process is still ongoing. On the same occasion, Tutuka also expressed his disappointment because the takeover of the right to participation or participating interest (PI) had not been completed and took a long time.

"Masela is still in progress, but it's like this, Masela has been around for a while, so the government has lost its opportunity," Tutuka told the media quoted on Wednesday, May 24.

According to Tutuka, with the toughness of this negotiation, the government lost the opportunity to take advantage of the potential natural gas sources from the Masela Block Eternal Field gas project.

With the length of this negotiation process, said Tutuka, ESDM Minister Arifin Tasrif also had time to express his disappointment.

"Finally, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources expressed disappointment. So we want to follow up," added Tutuka.