Pertamina mulls selling units, bonds after '05

Pertamina mulls selling units, bonds after '05

JAKARTA: Indonesia's national oil and gas company Pertamina plans to sell some of its units through initial public offerings as well as issue bonds after 2005 to finance some projects, company President Director Baihaki Hakim said Thursday.

The company is considering those plans as a result of mounting difficulties in obtaining loans from banks, Baihaki told reporters.

He said Pertamina needs US$4.5 billion over the next five years to develop oil and gas projects.

However, plans for the unit sales and bond issue remain at an early stage, he added. Pertamina will first have to discuss them with the government.

The government plans to transform Pertamina into an independent and profit-oriented company by 2005.

Earlier this year, Pertamina lost its monopoly on the country's upstream oil and gas sector when the government formed a body authorized to award oil and gas exploration and exploitation contracts. Before that, Pertamina had exclusive rights to those contracts. -- Dow Jones