Cogeneration plant project free from collusion: Caltex
JAKARTA (JP): Oil company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia has denied that it had formed a partnership with a company partly owned by a foundation linked with former state oil and gas company Pertamina's president Faisal Abda'oe to develop a US$190 million cogeneration plant in Duri, Riau.
However, Caltex's president and chairman of the managing board Baihaki Hakim refused to disclose the names of all the owners of PT Nusagalih Nusantara, the local partner of Caltex's shareholders-- Chevron and Texaco of the United States-- in developing the 300-Megawatt cogeneration plant.
The cogeneration plant is being developed by PT Mandau Cipta Tenaga Nusantara, which received the project from Caltex without competitive bidding.
Nusagalih owns 5 percent of Mandau Cipta with the remaining 95 percent held by Chevron and Texaco.
Informed sources at Pertamina said Nusagalih is controlled by Feisal and the Serangan Umum 1 Maret foundation, which was once chaired by Feisal and is linked with former president Soeharto.
But Baihaki said Nusagalih's statutes name only Harsudi Supandi as the owner.
"We didn't bother to find out who was behind him. The main thing is that he has the money and capabilities to co-develop the project," Baihaki said, adding that Harsudi is a supplier of oil production equipment for Caltex.
But Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said on Monday he had instructed Director General of Oil and Gas Soepraptono Soelaiman and Pertamina's president Martiono Hadianto to probe into the dubious deal allegedly made by Caltex regarding the cogeneration plant project.
A Caltex spokesman told The Jakarta Post last week Nusagalih was formerly co-owned by the Serangan Umum 1 Maret foundation but Harsudi later took over its shares in order to control the company.
But, Baihaki said the statement was inaccurate, adding Caltex did not fully know the identity of the original owners of the company.
"Presumption of corruption, collusion and nepotism in the project is definitely wrong," he said.
Baihaki admitted that Caltex had awarded the cogeneration plant project to Mandau Cipta without competitive bidding but he said the deal was done with prior approval from Pertamina and was processed through all the necessary channels.
Pertamina had given its approval on Aug. 26, 1997 when Faisal served as Pertamina's president.
He said under the existing regulation, an oil and gas contractor is allowed to award a project to a third party without competitive bidding to speed up its development provided that the project does not reduce the government's earnings from the oil and gas operations.
He said Caltex had appointed Chevron and Texaco to develop the project because the companies had lengthy experience in the design, construction and operation of cogeneration plants specifically built for high pressure steam flooding of oil fields which Caltex is going to carry out in its Duri oil fields.
Chevron and Texaco later formed a partnership with Nusagalih to comply with the existing regulation which obliges foreign investors to give 5 percent to a local partner.
The country's largest cogeneration plant, scheduled for completion in 2000, will supply power and steam to support oil production at Caltex's steamflood operation in Duri.
Cogeneration is a fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly process that will produce electricity and steam simultaneously from natural gas.
Differing from a normal gas-fired power plant which can only turn 30 percent of the gas into power and discharges the rest in wasted energy, a cogeneration plant can produce power as well as further process most of the wasted energy into thermal energy for heating and cooling needs.
The steam that will be produced at the Duri cogeneration plant will be pumped into the Duri oil wells to force crude oil flow out. (jsk)