Nicke: Losses from LNG Corpus Christi procurement cannot yet be calculated

Jakarta — Pertamina’s President Director for the 2018–2024 period Nicke Widyawati said that losses as well as gains in the procurement of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC (CCL) cannot yet be calculated. This is because the LNG procurement business contract with the US-based company remains in effect until 2040. ‘The business is not finished yet. So it cannot be cut one by one, but in business terms it must run to completion,’ Nicke said while testifying in a court at the Jakarta District Court on Thursday. Consequently, he stated that the contract differs from the deal with the Al Zour refinery in Kuwait, where the output of the refinery was brought to Indonesia in 2 million barrels to bolster energy security. Separately, Nicke also revealed that in the LNG procurement with Corpus Christi there were no reprimands from shareholders in the General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS) or from the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Nicke testified in a case of alleged LNG procurement corruption involving Pertamina and other agencies during 2011–2021, which also implicated Pertamina’s Gas Director for the period 2012–2014, Hari Karyuliarto, as a defendant. The case also implicates Yenni Andayani, Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development in the Gas Directorate of Pertamina for 2012–2013, as a defendant. The two defendants are alleged to have caused losses to the state amounting to USD 113.84 million, or around IDR 1.77 trillion, through acts that enriched Pertamina’s President Director for 2009–2014, Galaila Karen Kardinah alias Karen Agustiawan, by IDR 1.09 billion and USD 104,016, and enriched CCL by USD 113.84 million. The unlawful acts included Hari allegedly failing to formulate guidelines for the LNG procurement process from international sources and continuing to procure LNG from Cheniere Energy Inc. Meanwhile, Yenni proposed to Hari to sign Circular Directors’ Meeting Minutes regarding the decision to sign LNG sale and purchase agreements for LNG Train 1 and Train 2 from CCL without supported economic feasibility studies, risk assessments, and mitigations, and without LNG buyers contracted with CCL. Consequently, the acts of the two defendants are alleged to fall under Article 2(1) or Article 3 of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law No. 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55(1)(1) and Article 64(1) of the Indonesian Penal Code.