JAKARTA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government will ease more license procedures in a bid to boost the activity to look for new oil reserves, a minister said here on Tuesday.
The move came amid slow exploration of new oil reserve, dwindling output and rising energy demand in the Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the government has trimmed the number of permits required for exploration from 104 to 42.
"Now, we set to reduce it to 6. Hopefully, it can be materialized in December," said Pandjaitan who is also a former acting energy and mineral resources minister.
Pandjaitan expected the policy to attract more investment in exploration and raise the country's oil production.
The government plans to drop all taxes charged during exploration period, and raise by more than double production sharing for investors, he said.
