Auction of Unconvential Oil and Gas Work Areas

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 5 of 2012 on Guidelines to Determine and Offer Unconventional Oil and Gas Work Areas (“Regulation”) was issued to implement Article 4 of Government Regulation No. 35 of 2004 on Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities, as amended by Government Regulation No. 55 of 2009. Article 4 requires the issuance of a minister regulation to regulate matters on procedures to offer unconventional work areas for oil and gas companies.

Unconventional oil and gas is defined in Article 1 (1) as oil and gas, such as shale oil, shale gas, tight sand gas, coal bed methane, and methane hydrate that is extracted from low permeability oil and gas reservoirs using special (unconventional) techniques, such as fracturing.