Pertamina subsidiaries chalk up robust growth

Pertamina subsidiaries chalk up robust growth

JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina announced
significant profit increases for most of its subsidiaries in the
1998/1999 fiscal year despite the economic crisis.

In a statement submitted on Monday to the House of
Representatives' Commission V which includes supervision of mines
and energy, the company said its air transportation arm Pelita
Air Service increased its unaudited net profit 364 percent to Rp
137.9 billion (US$20.4 million) for the fiscal year 1998/1999
ending on March 31, 1999, from Rp 29.7 billion in the previous
fiscal year.

Its hotel chain PT Patra Jasa posted an unaudited net profit
of Rp 22.9 billion, a 87.4 percent increase from Rp 12.2 billion.

Barge company PT Pertamina Tongkang posted an unaudited before
tax profit of Rp 64.7 billion, up 8.8 percent from Rp 59.5
billion.

Shipbuilding company PT Patra Dok Dumai recorded an unaudited
net profit of Rp 4.7 billion, a 463 percent increase from Rp 840
million.

Pertamina said PT Elnusa Harapan, which is active in
information technology and refinery maintenance, recorded a net
profit of Rp 1.6 billion for 1997/1998, but it did not specify
the company's net profit for 1998/1999.

Insurance firm PT Tugu Pratama Indonesia, which is the
country's largest insurance firm with a monopoly on the country's
oil and gas industry, recorded an unaudited net profit of Rp 259
billion for the fiscal year of 1998/1999, a 60 percent increase
from Rp 165 billion the previous fiscal year.

Oil export import company PT Perta Oil Marketing was the only
one among Pertamina's subsidiaries which registered decreasing
net profit.

It recorded an unaudited net profit of $16.2 million, a 33.4
percent decrease from $24.4 million in the previous fiscal year.

In the past, former president Soeharto's son Hutomo "Tommy"
Mandala Putra and golfing partner Mohamad "Bob" Hasan
respectively owned 25 percent shares in the company, with the
remaining 50 percent share held by Pertamina and its pension
fund.

Pertamina earlier announced acquisition of the shares of Tommy
and Bob in its efforts to root out corruption, collusion and
nepotism in the company.

Pertamina recorded an unaudited consolidated net profit of Rp
2.7 trillion for the fiscal year 1998/1999, a 844 percent
increase from Rp 295 billion the previous fiscal year.(jsk)