Elnusa gets Rp 65b loan from Bukopin

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Bukopin agreed here yesterday to provide credit facilities of about Rp 68 billion (US$11.8 million) to PT Elnusa.

Elnusa's president Aswad Dipo said the credit line would mainly be used to finance the maintenance of the refineries owned by its parent company Pertamina, a state oil and gas company.

He said Elnusa had recently received orders from Pertamina to maintain the state-owned oil company's refineries in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan; Dumai, Riau and Sorong, Irian Jaya.

Aswad said his company would receive an annual revenue of Rp 170 billion from the maintenance of those refineries.

He said Elnusa was also negotiating for the contract to maintain other Pertamina refineries in Pangkalan Berandan, North Sumatra; Sei Pakning, Riau; Musi, South Sumatra; Balongan, West Java; Cilacap and Cepu, Central Java.

According to Aswad, the Rp 65 billion credit facilities, with a maturity period of two years, would have an interest rate of 28 percent per annum.

Elnusa is a joint venture between Pertamina and PT Tridaya Esta.

Tridaya Esta, the minority shareholder in Elnusa, is owned by businessmen Bambang Trihatmodjo, the son of President Soeharto and Indra Bambang Utoyo.

Elnusa has five business divisions: oil and gas exploration and production, information and telecommunications, oil refinery, oil product retail, and infrastructure development.

Pertamina director for corporate affairs Baharuddin said in a recent hearing with the House of Representatives that Elnusa was one of its best performing subsidiaries of the state-owned oil company with a Rp 23.6 billion net profit for the 1996/1997 fiscal year.

According to Aswad, Elnusa had planned to go public this year but the plan was postponed to an unspecified date due to the bearishness of the local capital markets. (jsk)