CO-OPERATION CONTRACTS OF UPSTREAM PETROLEUM BUSINESS : GLOBAL COMPARATIVE STUDY, IMPLICATIONS FOR INDONESIA, AND EXPLORATION SIGNIFICANCES

摘要

Cooperation contracts or upstream oil and gas business in Indonesia have lasted for more than one hundred years. The contracts include concession systems (royalty/tax), contract of work (COW), production sharing contract (PSC), joint operation body/joint operation agreement/joint venture (JOB/JOA/JV), technical assistance contract (TAC), enhanced oil recovery contract (EOR) and service contract (SC). These systems of contracts are now collectively called Cooperation Contracts.The Government of Indonesia has offered the contracts to contractors who were attracted to venture in Indonesia. The terms within the contracts such as fiscal terms and incentives have been adapted to comply with the coeval development trends of oil and gas business to make them competitive.In this study, the existing contracts were evaluated and compared to contracts offered by other Asian and OPEC member countries. It is observed that generally there has been decline of investment in many countries. In Indonesia, one could observe that the decline of investment relates to : constitution, law, regulations, and policies; institutions and governmental entities; contractual and fiscal systems/ regimes; and socio-geopolitical risks.Exploration, as the backbone of upstream oil and gas business activities, declined significantly in the last five years. This will endanger the sustainability of petroleum production in Indonesia. All parties involved in the exploration business should look for solutions to accelerate the exploration. In contractual concerns, some solutions can be suggested.To fashion the needs of contractors and making the contracts to be attractive, the Government of Indonesia has applied contractual system with balanced considerations on fiscal application and prospectivity. This will enable the strength of Indonesia on geological prospectivity, remaining reserves, infrastructures (especially in West Indonesia region) and market availability to be protruding and hence, attractive.