Vice Chairperson of Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives Bambang Hariyadi chairs a Hearing with SKK Migas and Deputy President Director of PT Pertamina at the Commission VII Conference Hall, Jakarta, Thursday (6/6/2024). Photo: Geraldi/vel

PARLEMENTARIA, Jakarta - The House Commission VII on energy, research, and innovation questioned the annual increase in cost recovery, which has not been accompanied by an increase in oil and gas lifting. The oil and gas production has, in fact, continued to decline.

"The recovery cost from 2022 to 2023 increased from USD6.1 billion to USD9.6 billion, or approximately 58 percent. Similarly from 2023 to 2024, the recovery is projected to cost USD13.9 billion. Meanwhile, while the cost has continued to rise in the past 3 years, our production has continued to decline, and Mr. Wiko admitted this earlier. That's why I want to get a more detailed explanation about this problem," said Vice Chairperson of Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives Bambang Hariyadi in a hearing with SKK Migas and Deputy President Director of PT Pertamina at the Commission VII conference hall, Jakarta, Thursday (6/6/2024).

Another member of Commission VII, Abdul Kadir Karding, also shared Hariyadi's view on the issue. He questioned the recovery cost that continued to rise from one year to the next, but was not accompanied by an increase in performance, which is evident in the insignificant results of oil and gas lifting.

Furthermore, the National Awakening Party (PKB) politician suspected that there were attempts to continuously raise recovery cost through special lobbying, which might only benefit certain individuals. If this is the case, and there might be potential state losses from it, then Karding sees it as a problem requiring prompt investigation and evaluation.

"I think you need to clarify this because logically speaking, if your performance allowance increases, performance must be good, no? If recovery cost increases, then our lifting should also increase, and significantly, too. What we expect to see moving up consistently is performance. This one is not performance," said Karding. (ayu/aha/agl)