Caltex reaffirms Rp17t in fees to govt

Caltex reaffirms Rp17t in fees to govt

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government received a total of
US$2.06 billion or Rp 17 trillion in taxes and oil production
share from PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia in 1998 and not Rp 6.2
trillion, as claimed by Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto, the
American oil contractor reaffirmed on Thursday.

Caltex's vice president Robert Brail reaffirmed the amount at
a meeting with Riau legislators, officials and students in
Pekanbaru who asked for further clarification about the
controversy over the different figures.

Riau legislators and officials were surprised upon hearing at
a meeting in Jakarta with minister Bambang on April 21 that the
government received only Rp 6.24 trillion in oil receipts from
mining contractors in Riau.

"The figure mentioned by the finance minister was
unbelievable because Caltex alone paid Rp 17 trillion, while
there are several other oil mining contractors operating in
Riau," Chairuddin Mustafa, vice speaker of the Riau legislative
council, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

Brail explained that Caltex, Indonesia's largest oil producer,
pumped up 760,000 barrels of oil a day in 1998.

As its daily production cost amounted to the equivalent of
80,000 barrels, 680,000 barrels remained to be divided between
the government and Caltex on the basis of the 76:24 production
sharing ratio.

"But we had still to transfer to the government (finance
ministry) about half of our 24 percent production share in income
and dividend tax payments," the Caltex executive said.

Hence, he added, the government's take of Caltex's oil
production actually amounted to 88 percent.

Brail said Caltex handed to the government a total of 157.6
million barrels of crude oil in 1998.

"Calculated on the basis of the government-set average oil
price in 1998, government receipts from Caltex in that year
totaled $2.06 billion or Rp 17 trillion, including income and
dividend taxes," Brail added.

Caltex's vice president for general affairs Tengku Amir
Sulaiman denied the allegation that his company had colluded with
Pertamina in relation to the different figures.

Mustafa said after the meeting that a Riau delegation would
soon meet with executives of state-owned oil company Pertamina to
clarify the controversy.

Pertamina is in charge of marketing the government's take of
contractors' oil production. (vin)