Clean audit succes for Pertamina
JAKARTA (JP): The Government Audit Agency (BPKP) yesterday awarded an unqualified, or clean, opinion to the state oil company Pertamina for its 1994/95 financial report.
According to the financial report, the opinion on which was presented by the agency's deputy chairman Sjarfin Samsudin to Pertamina's president Faisal Abda'oe yesterday, the company's net profits increased to by 3.5 percent to Rp 550.8 billion (US$235.5 million) in 1994/95, from Rp 531.8 billion the previous year.
The 1994/95 net profits, however, were far lower than the Rp 807 billion recorded in 1992/93.
During 1994/95, Pertamina's revenues from its own operations were recorded at Rp 22.16 trillion, while its operational costs reached Rp 20.77 trillion.
The state oil company gave the government some Rp 837.77 billion in taxes and other payments in 1994/95.
Meanwhile, Abda'oe said, after accepting BPKP's opinion, that the Bank of Taiwan has expressed its willingness to arrange a syndicated loan to finance the construction of Pertamina's eighth liquefied natural gas (LNG) production unit in Bontang, East Kalimantan.
The LNG unit, to be called Train-H, is to be established at a cost of about US$1 billion with a production capacity of 2.95 million tons per year.
"We'll continue our negotiations with the Bank of Taiwan on the loan next week," he said.
According to Abda'oe, the Bank of Taiwan will provide up to 50 percent of the funds needed for the construction of the LNG unit. "By providing 50 percent of the funds, the Bank of Taiwan will be qualified to become the lead-arranger of the syndicated loan," he said.
He did not specify the names of the other banks expected to be involved in the loan syndication but said that many international banks had offered financial assistance.
Abda'oe said that the financing of the Train-H construction will adopt the model used for the recent financing of the Train-G unit and the debottlenecking project of an oil refinery in Cilacap, Central Java.
In both projects, Pertamina assigned an international financial agency to become a "trustee borrower" which also acted as a mediator between the state firm and the financiers. (13)