Pertamina denies fuel import snags

Pertamina denies fuel import snags

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina has
denied it is facing cash-flow problems to import fuel amid the
sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

"There is no such cash-flow problem. We still have sufficient
stocks of fuel in the country until March," company president
Soegianto said Friday at a breaking of the fast gathering at the
company's headquarters.

The nation consumes 52 million kiloliters of fuel annually,
according to Pertamina data, 80 percent of which is supplied by
the firm's refineries.

The remainder is imported from Southeast Asian countries,
including Singapore and Thailand, and the Middle East.

An official at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, who asked to
remain anonymous, had said earlier that Pertamina was
experiencing a cash-flow difficulty in importing fuels because of
the crisis.

Pertamina has to purchase the fuel from abroad in dollars, but
domestic sales are made in rupiah.

The ministry official said it was problematic to obtain the
greenback during the crisis, which has hit the nation since July
of last year.

Most dollar proceeds from the country's gas and oil exports go
directly to the central bank. Pertamina receives rupiah to
finance its imports.

The firm thus has to change its rupiah into dollars at an
extremely high rate.

Soegianto admitted that most of the proceeds from the
country's oil and gas exports went to Bank Indonesia, while
Pertamina only had in hand dollars raised from the export of its
own oil output.

He said the export proceeds that went directly to the central
bank were equal to the government's shares in the operations of
the oil and gas production sharing contract (PSC) and Pertamina.

The government's shares are 85 percent for oil PSC, 70 percent
for gas PSC and 60 percent for Pertamina's operation.

He admitted that dollar amounts obtained by Pertamina from the
export of its own oil and gas output were not enough for fuel
imports. As such, Pertamina had to change its rupiah revenue into
dollars at the state-owned banks.

But Soegianto dismissed the allegation of the company's
problems in obtaining dollars.

"Don't worry. There is no problem with our fuel imports," he
said. (jsk)