Govt disburses subsidy funds to Pertamina
Govt disburses subsidy funds to Pertamina
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The current cashflow problems being experienced by state oil and
gas company Pertamina will not disrupt national fuel supply as
the government has started disbursing fuel subsidies.
For the first phase, the government disbursed Rp 4 trillion
(US$421 million) last Friday in fuel subsidies to Pertamina to
assist the company pay for oil imports.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie told
reporters on Monday that the funds were only "emergency funds" as
both the government and Pertamina had yet to discuss the
obligations between them in regard to the money.
"We have to look into the problem carefully to see each sides
obligations. It remains unclear who owes who, and who is supposed
to pay who," he said.
"I expect the Ministry of Finance and Pertamina to sit down
together and solve the problem."
Pertamina has repeatedly complained that the government was
slow in reimbursing its fuel subsidies, which as of March reached
Rp 23 trillion.
The finance ministry, meanwhile, argued that Pertamina's
financial reports should be audited first before the company was
reimbursed for the fuel subsidies.
Without the fuel subsidies, Pertamina could fall short of cash
and fail to keep the national fuel stockpile at a secure level of
22 days of consumption.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro
was quoted by Antara as saying that he had asked the finance
ministry to disburse the funds needed by Pertamina to import
fuel.
"We have to help Pertamina's cashflow, otherwise it might
affect the country's stockpile of fuel," he said.
Purnomo explained Pertamina was having difficulty importing
oil as some banks had refused to issue the company with letters
of credit (L/C) required to guarantee import payments.
Pertamina spokesman Abadi Poernomo recently said that Bank
Negara Indonesia and the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation
had refused to issue letters of credit to Pertamina as the firm
had yet to repay a total of Rp 9 trillion for import financing
from the two banks.
Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, refused to
unload a cargo of fuel in Indonesia because Pertamina failed to
provide a payment guarantee, Bloomberg reported.
Pertamina has to spend some Rp 8 trillion each month to import
fuel.
Indonesia needs 178 thousand kiloliters of fuel per day --
74,000 kiloliters of diesel fuel, 44,000 kiloliters of Premium-
type gasoline and 32,000 kiloliters of kerosene.
In this year's business plan, Pertamina expects replacement
funds from the government for the processing and distribution of
domestic fuel of Rp 60.13 trillion, down from Rp 71.45 trillion
last year.
The company's income from other sources of revenue is
projected to decrease to Rp 4.16 trillion from Rp 8.88 trillion.
In addition, Pertamina expects revenue from fuel sales to
decline slightly to Rp 79.27 trillion from Rp 80.91 trillion.
Revenue from fuel exports is also expected to decline to Rp 18.45
trillion from Rp 18.76 trillion.
Overall, the company's operating revenue is projected to reach
Rp 197.74 trillion this year, from an estimated Rp 213.52
trillion last year.