Pertamina replies<\/p>\n
With regard to your Jan. 14 article on the hike of fuel prices
\nwritten by Parulian Sihotang and Alex Russell from the Department
\nof Accountancy and Business Finance at the University of Dundee
\nin the UK, we feel it necessary to convey the following points:<\/p>\n
We feel that the article has harmed our company's image
\nbecause the writers referred to out-of-date data from the World
\nBank based on the 1988-1999 survey to explain about the hikes set
\nby the government on Jan. 1, 2003. This is, of course, irrelevant
\nas Pertamina has made significant changes over the last three
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Efficiency has been, and will always be, part of the company's
\npolicy. To evaluate the efficiency of Pertamina's refineries,
\nShell Global Solution (SGS) conducted a benchmark study on other
\nrefineries abroad.<\/p>\n
Overall production costs of Pertamina refineries in 2000 stood
\nat US$1.10 a barrel and in 2001 at about $1.03 a barrel, which is
\nstill within the range of prices of other refineries abroad of 70
\ncents to $2.50 a barrel. Pertamina thus belongs to the 30 percent
\nshare of the best group of refineries with operational costs of
\nbelow $1.10 a barrel.<\/p>\n
Production costs heavily depend on the price of crude oil,
\nreaching 91.68 percent of costs, which is beyond Pertamina's
\ncontrol and processing units. Therefore, it is unreasonable to
\nrelate the hikes with the inefficiency of Pertamina's refineries.<\/p>\n
So far Pertamina calculates the basic price of fuel based on
\nthe average price for all types of fuel subsidized by the
\ngovernment (the regulated price for five types of fuel).<\/p>\n
Pertamina's costs have also decreased significantly from Rp
\n1,810 a liter in 2001 to Rp 1,627 a liter in 2002 and is expected
\nto go down to Rp 1,492 a liter in 2003.<\/p>\n
In distribution and sales in 2002, Pertamina succeeded in
\nreducing sales of subsidized fuels to 52.6 million kilo liters.
\nThis figure is lower than the maximum limit set by the 2002 state
\nbudget of 52.7 million kilo liters. In addition, Pertamina
\nmanaged to cut half of the 0.5 percent of tolerable losses set by
\ninternational standards in fuel distribution.<\/p>\n
Based on data from the Development Finance Comptroller
\n(BPKP), Pertamina's supply loss in 2001 stood at 0.25 percent of
\nthe 88,707,945 kilo liters of fuel distribution. The success
\nrepresents efficiency measures taken by Pertamina given the fact
\nthat when there is a loss above the tolerable limit, the margin
\nis removed from the cost of subsidized fuels and becomes the
\nburden of Pertamina.<\/p>\n
RIDWAN NYAK BAIK, Corporate Service, Public Relations Manager,
\nPertamina, Jakarta<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pertamina-replies-1447893297",
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