Pertamina distributors ready for Y2K bug

JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina announced on Thursday that it was ready to face the Year 2000 (Y2K) bug, saying all its operations, including refinery and fuel distribution, would run as usual when the country entered the next millennium.

Pertamina president Martiono Hadianto assured the public that the millennium bug would not pose any problems to the company's fuel distribution lines.

"As a result of our efforts, Pertamina is now Y2K ready and fuel and nonfuel distributions will remain normal before, during and after the year 2000," Martiono said during a ceremony marking Pertamina's Y2K compliance at the company's head office in Jakarta.

Pertamina had identified all the areas of its operation which were exposed to the Y2k threat, he said, adding that the state oil and gas company had taken necessary steps to anticipate Y2K computer glitches.

He said that for instance Pertamina had checked up possible Y2K-affected computer systems at fuel stations throughout Indonesia and had upgraded the systems if necessary.

Controllers at oil refineries had also passed Pertamina's Y2K preparation program, he added.

He said that to reassure Pertamina's partners and consumers, the company had used the service of an international Y2K consultant, Tava Technologies Inc.

Tava performed assessments and analysis in several critical areas of Pertamina's operations, he said.

Martiono said Pertamina received its Y2K compliant certificate from Tava following the consultant's audit on Y2K preparations by Pertamina.

Pertamina's contingency plan and the following simulations and training sessions were all prepared based on documents from the British Standard Institutions, which issues operation standards in anticipation of the millennium bug, he said, adding that training sessions had been run since October.

Martiono said to monitor Pertamina's operation across the country, the company had set up a Y2K post at its head office, which would be operated by a team from Pertamina's system information and data management office.

The Y2K problem, or the millennium bug, arises because older computer systems record dates using only the last two digits of the year. If not corrected, such systems could treat "2000" as "1900", generating errors or system crashes when the date rolls over to Jan. 1, 2000.

Calling the Y2K an "interesting global phenomenon", Martiono said Indonesia's position would permit Pertamina to closely watch events in New Zealand, the first country to enter the next millennium, and still have between five to six hours in lead time.

Martiono was unable to provide information on Pertamina's budget for its Y2K compliance program, however, head of the company's planning division Didi Sunarwinadi said Pertamina had not allocated any special funds for the program.

"All spending came from our existing operational budget," Didi said.

He said Pertamina would be able to assess the costs for its Y2K program after the company's audit next year. (03)