El Nusa may lose Pertamina monopoly
El Nusa may lose Pertamina monopoly
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro
Mangkusubroto said he would abolish the monopoly given to PT EL
Nusa for the maintenance of the state oil and gas company
Pertamina's refineries.
"If necessary, (I will order) Pertamina to let go of the
company," Kuntoro said Tuesday at a hearing with the House of
Representatives Commission V for industry, mining, trade,
manpower, cooperatives and the environment.
Kuntoro said all future contracts with Pertamina would have to
be made through tenders in order to select bidders with the
lowest price offer.
El Nusa is 51.5 percent owned by Pertamina and 48.5 percent by
PT Tridaya Esta, which is controlled by ex-president Soeharto's
son Bambang Trihatmodjo and legislator Indra Bambang Utoyo.
Although El Nusa is engaged in oil and gas exploration and
production, telecommunications, oil refineries, oil product
retail and infrastructure development, the maintenance of the
refineries generate most of its revenues.
The company has enjoyed monopolies in other Pertamina
operations on top of its refinery monopoly.
Pertamina currently runs nine refineries located in Pangkalan
Brandan, North Sumatra; Dumai and Sungai Pakning, Riau; Musi,
South Sumatra; Balongan, West Java; Cilacap and Cepu, Central
Java; Balikpapan, East Kalimantan; and Kasim, Irian Jaya.
El Nusa president Aswad Dipo recently told The Jakarta Post
the company enjoyed Rp 170 billion in annual revenues from the
maintenance of the refineries.
The company is considered one of Pertamina's best-performing
subsidiaries and plans to go public this year.
El Nusa is also among seven companies which hold exclusive
trading rights for the high-octane Premix and Super TT gasolines
sold domestically.
The other traders are Gigantrax, Sinar Pedoman Abadi, Hiswana
Migas Cooperative, Bhakti Migas Utama, Humpuss Trading and
Panutan Selaras.
Humpuss Trading is controlled by Soeharto's son Hutomo Mandala
Putra, alias Tommy, while PT Panutan Selaras is a subsidiary of
the Panutan Group, chaired by Soeharto's eldest son Sigit
Harjojudanto. (jsk)