Govt to replace Pertamina directors before Cepu signing
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will replace state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina's management board later this month due to "poor performance".
The mass dismissal will take place prior to September's signing of a contract between Pertamina and ExxonMobil Corp. on the Cepu block.
"The Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises is currently screening several candidates to fill in some posts at the management. We expect the reshuffle within this month," Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday.
He refused to elaborate on the reasons behind the replacement, but State Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto said it was closely related to Pertamina's poor performance in addressing the company's problems.
"The reshuffle should enhance Pertamina's performance, which I believe is far below my expectations. It is not merely about the Cepu contract, it is a combination of many things which I am not happy about," he asserted.
Apart from recent fuel shortages, Pertamina's management had refused to go along fully with a key memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between ExxonMobil and the government in developing the oil-rich Cepu block, located on the border of Central Java and East Java provinces.
Pertamina president director Widya Purnama earlier asked the government to let Pertamina replace ExxonMobil as the operator of the block for a bigger split of the output -- a violation of the MOU agreed upon on June 25.
Exxon and a government-sponsored negotiating team agreed on the deal that called for the stakeholders -- Pertamina, Exxon and local administrations -- to split 15 percent of the output and the government 85 percent if oil prices averaged over US$45 in a year.
If oil falls to below $35 it would be a 30-70 split.
The MOU also marked the end of a four-year dispute between the government and ExxonMobil.
Widya took over Pertamina's top job after being appointed by then President Megawati Soekarnoputri a year ago to succeed Ariffi Nawawi.
Although several names for the top jobs at Pertamina have begun circulating around the Presidential Palace, neither Aburizal nor Sugiharto would reveal the candidates, explaining that the matter was deemed "sensitive".
The names include the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources' director general of oil and gas Iin Arifin Takhyan, Pertamina incumbent president commissioner Martiono and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Implementing Body (BP Migas) chairman Tubagus Haryono.
"The candidates will be from outside Pertamina or the company's former top executives. We are still selecting them and hope some names will be recommended soon to the final assessment team (TPA)," said Aburizal.
The team is a special forum with its members comprising of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Chief of the National Intelligence Agency Syamsir Siregar, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi and other related ministers.
Members of the TPA are selecting candidates for top jobs in the government, the military, the police and state enterprises.