Ahok Bewildered by LNG Sales Losses Upon Taking Position as Pertamina Chief Commissioner

JAKARTA — Former Chief Commissioner of PT Pertamina (Persero) Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, expressed bewilderment upon learning of losses from liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales at Pertamina shortly after assuming his position.

Ahok stated that he received this information from Pertamina’s Board of Directors during a routine Board of Directors (BOD) and Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting shortly after taking office.

“When I first arrived, in January there was a routine BOD-BOC meeting. At that meeting, it was reported that there would be losses from LNG sales,” Ahok said while testifying as a witness in a corruption case hearing regarding alleged improprieties in Pertamina’s LNG procurement at the Jakarta Anticorruption Court on Monday (2 March 2026).

Ahok expressed surprise and questioned the occurrence of such state losses. According to him, the meeting witnessed considerable debate.

“That is what I recall—when we had just started, we were bewildered by how losses could occur. There had to be debate at that point,” he stated.

Ahok explained that from this debate, he learned that the losses resulted from LNG purchase contracts lacking confirmed buyer commitments or end-users. He noted that in standard LNG business practice, purchases are typically conducted only after certainty of a buyer contract is established.

According to Ahok, one LNG buyer, PT PLN, did not sign a price agreement. Additionally, there was cargo without identified buyers.