Pertamina to get piece of oil and fuel import action
Pertamina to get piece of oil and fuel import action
JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina will end the
monopoly of crude oil and fuel imports now held by politically
connected Perta Oil Marketing Ltd and Permindo Trading Oil Co
Ltd, the company said yesterday.
Company processing director Samto Utomo said Pertamina would
establish a new trading division to handle crude oil and fuel
imports in competition with both companies.
Perta and Permindo hold the exclusive rights to import fuel
and crude oil imports respectively for Pertamina.
"Perta and Permindo may still operate, but there will be no
obligation for Pertamina to buy imported crude oil and fuel from
them," Samto said.
"We shall only buy crude oil and fuel from them if they set
lower prices than our trading division."
Indonesia, though a net-oil exporting country, imports between
15 percent to 20 percent of its annual fuel consumption of 52
million kiloliters due to the limited capacity of Pertamina's
refineries.
Pertamina also imports 70 million barrels of crude oil
annually, mainly from the Middle East, to feed its refineries.
The plan to establish the trading division was part of the
state oil company's restructuring program, Samto said, adding
that Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto had
ordered Pertamina to set up the division by 2000.
Pertamina has a 30 percent stake in Penta and 35 percent in
Permindo, but the company thus far refuses to publicly reveal the
names of the other shareholders.
An informed source at the House of Representatives said the
remaining 70 percent stake in Penta is owned by a consortium
including the Humpuss Group, controlled by President Soeharto's
son Hutomo Mandala Putra, and several foundations linked to the
country's top leaders.
The remaining 65 percent stake in Permindo is owned by a
consortium, Mindo Petroleum, partly owned by President Soeharto's
son Bambang Trihatmodjo, Soeharto's cousin Sudwikatmono and
Nirwan Bakrie.
Samto said the appointment of the two companies to import
Pertamina's fuel and crude oil was based on a ministerial decree.
"I don't remember which minister issued the decree," he said.
A legislator of the ruling Golkar grouping, Priyo Budi
Santoso, recently alleged that both companies took an overly high
trading commission from Pertamina.
Priyo praised yesterday Pertamina's plan to scrap Perta and
Permindo's monopoly.
"I give a thumbs up to the plan. I hope the plan will be
realized, otherwise I will keep criticizing Pertamina," Priyo
told The Jakarta Post.
Pertamina also said on Friday it would import 4.6 million
barrels of oil products in May and a similar amount in June
following the shutdown of the residue catalytic cracker unit in
the Balongan refinery last week. (jsk)