Pertamina's unpaid debts reach US$732m<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina has arrears
\nof about US$732 million to crude and fuel importers, shipping
\ncompanies and gas suppliers.<\/p>\n
Pertamina president Soegianto said the company was behind in
\ndebt payments because it had yet to receive payment from several
\nfuel gas buyers.<\/p>\n
In addition, he said, Pertamina also had not received the
\nmoney from the government to offset the subsidies for the fuel
\nsales.<\/p>\n
"Anyway, we shall find ways to settle the debt," he said in a
\nhearing with the House of Representatives's Commission VIII for
\nstate budget and finance, and science and technology.<\/p>\n
Soegianto said the debt included the payment of crude and fuel
\nimports to its former affiliates Perta Oil Marketing Ltd and
\nPermindo Trading oil, the payment of fuel and oil shipment to
\nshipping companies and the purchase of crude and gas to several
\nproduction sharing contractors.<\/p>\n
The government has thus far yet to reimburse Pertamina Rp 12.1
\ntrillion ($806 million) for fuel subsidies.<\/p>\n
"Minister of Finance (Bambang Subianto) has promised to pay us
\nRp 2.1 trillion of the unpaid fuel subsidies today," Soegianto
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The government has allocated fuel subsidies amounting to Rp
\n9.4 trillion for the current fiscal year on the assumption that
\nthe average crude oil price is $14.5 per barrel and the exchange
\nrate averaged Rp 6,000 per dollar throughout the year.<\/p>\n
The subsidy will rise by Rp 5 trillion whenever the rupiah's
\nvalue falls by Rp 1,000 against the dollar. The subsidy will thus
\nrise to Rp 34.4 trillion if the exchange rate averages Rp 10,000
\nper dollar this year.<\/p>\n
Soegianto said Pertamina had been faced with difficulties in
\nimporting fuel for several weeks amid the cash flow problem
\nfollowing the rejection of Indonesian letters of credit (L\/C)
\nabroad.<\/p>\n
The company failed to import 900,000 barrels of crude oil from
\nAustralia's Broken Hill Pty Ltd and Mobil Corp since both
\ncompanies demanded that Pertamina's L\/Cs were guaranteed by first
\nclass international banks.<\/p>\n
The problem was solved after the central bank guaranteed the
\ncompany's L\/Cs starting July 1, he said.<\/p>\n
"I have not heard of any more problems in fuel and crude
\nimports after the central bank guaranteed our L\/C," Soegianto
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said Bank Indonesia would provide $100 million to guarantee
\nPertamina's L\/Cs, including $50 million to guarantee L\/C for fuel
\nimports and $50 million for crude imports.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, though a net oil exporting country, imports 15
\npercent of its annual fuel consumption of 52 million kiloliters
\n(325 million barrels) due to the limited capacity of Pertamina's
\nrefineries.<\/p>\n
Pertamina also imports about 71 million tons of crude oil from
\nSaudi Arabia, Malaysia and Australia for its refineries to
\nproduce certain kinds of fuel, asphalt and lubricating oil, which
\ncannot be made from Indonesian crude oil.<\/p>\n
Pertamina finance director Hadi Sudibyo said during the
\nhearing that Pertamina still had $4.18 billion, 11.8 trillion
\nand Rp 485 billion in long term debt for the financing its
\nrefinery and liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants projects.<\/p>\n
But the company did not face any problems in paying off the
\ndebt since it would be paid with the output of the plants, Hadi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Soegianto said Pertamina had millions of dollars in
\noutstanding claims to its clients.<\/p>\n
Several domestic air carriers, including Garuda Airlines, the
\nnow closed Sempati Air and Merpati Airlines, for example, owed
\nthe state oil company $30 million while gas buyers, including
\nstate gas distributor PGN and state electricity company PLN, owed
\nabout $150 million. (jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pertaminas-unpaid-debts-reach-us732m-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}