Pertamina's gross profit drops to Rp1.8t
JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina booked a gross profit of Rp 1.79 trillion (US$238 million) from its wholly owned oil and gas fields and joint ventures for the fiscal year of 1997/1998, a 42 percent decrease from Rp 3.09 trillion in the previous fiscal year.
"The figures have been audited by the State Financial Comptroller Agency (BPKP) which gave Pertamina an unreserved thumbs-up for its 1997/1998 financial report," Pertamina's outgoing president Soegianto said on Thursday on the sidelines of the ceremony to celebrate the company's 41st anniversary.
Pertamina's public relation office said in a statement on Thursday that Pertamina booked a gross profit of Rp 1.67 trillion from its wholly-owned oil and gas fields in 1997/1998 fiscal year ended in March.
Soegianto ascribed the sharply decreasing profit to the sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the dollar since the middle of last year.
In its auditing report, BPKP said that Pertamina's corporate performance remained very healthy despite the drop in the gross profit.
Pertamina has successively received unreserved backing from BPKP over the past 10 years, the statement said.
However, Pertamina's statement did not reveal Pertamina's net profit for 1997/1998.
Pertamina booked a net profit of Rp 1.4 trillion in 1996/1997, after meeting its financial obligations amounting to Rp 1.63 trillion to the government.
Soegianto refused to reveal the amount of the company's financial obligations to the government for the fiscal year of 1997/1998, but he said the government had agreed to pay its financial obligations in installments over the next two years to help Pertamina cope with the monetary crisis.
"We hope to book a gross profit of between Rp 2 trillion and Rp 3 trillion in the current fiscal year," Soegianto said.
Subsidy
Soegianto also noted that Pertamina would no longer subsidize the sale of natural gas to the country's fertilizer producers following the government's recent decision to lift the subsidy on the fertilizer sold to farmers.
Currently, Pertamina sells natural gas -- the raw material for the making of fertilizer -- to the country's fertilizer producers at between $1.82 and $2 per million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU), while other companies, including state electricity company PLN, buy the gas for up to $3 per MMBTU.
"We want to sell natural gas to fertilizer companies at a price based on the cost of development," Soegianto said.
Soegianto, who will be replaced by Martiono Hadianto, director general of customs and excise at the Ministry of Finance on Monday, also said in his speech that Pertamina had started developing two oil finds in Sopa and Tepus, South Sumatra, which are believed to contain relatively big reserves.
"The two oil discoveries are expected to increase Pertamina's oil and gas production from its wholly-owned fields," Soegianto said.
Soegianto also said the restructuring programs at the company exploration and production directorate had succeeded in lowering the company's costs of oil and gas production.
Company cost of oil production currently stood at between $5 and $7 per barrel, Soegianto said, but did not reveal the cost of gas production.
In the refinery sector, Soegianto said, Pertamina had completed the debottlenecking project at its Cilacap refinery this year to increase its lube base oil production capacity by 70 percent and its asphalt production capacity by 40 percent.
Pertamina had also successfully launched an environmentally- friendly gasoline for two-cycle machines, called BB2L gasoline, this year, Soegianto said.
This year Pertamina has also received the ISO 9002 certificates for its aviation gasoline depots at the Ngurah Rai airport in Bali and the Soekarno Hatta airport in Jakarta, and the lube plant in Cilacap, Central Java and the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) container manufacturing plant in Plumpang, Jakarta. (jsk)