Pertamina unwilling to take over BPMigas functions, says chief

Amahl S. Azwar, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Wed, November 21 2012, 9:03 PM

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina chief Karen Agustiawan has rejected ongoing speculation that the firm will take over the role as the nation’s upstream oil and gas supervisory bureau after the dissolution of the erstwhile regulator, BPMigas.

Karen, who became the first woman to lead Pertamina after she was appointed as the firm’s president director in 2009, told reporters on Wednesday the company was all set to pursue its plan to become one of the leading national oil companies (NOCs) in the world by 2023.

The company had been struggling to restore its image, which was tarnished during the New Order regime after fraudulent practices in the company almost brought the state to the edge of financial collapse.

Before the establishment of BPMigas in 2002 under the 2001 Oil and Gas Law, Pertamina has a double function as oil and gas operator and industry regulator.

“As the president director [of Pertamina], I object that during this transformation period, the company must to go back to old times. We do not wish to be involved in regulation,” she said in a press conference at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s headquarters in Jakarta.

Karen maintained that Pertamina’s current focus was to become the most prominent national oil company in the Southeast Asia region by 2014, and added that “the plan will seize most of the attention of the firm’s board of directors.”

“The company’s business has been growing and the company’s governance and current plans have been well-organized,” she said.

Last week Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE) president director Salis S. Aprilian said the company would be “ready” should the government decide to hand over the authority of the former regulator to them.

PHE is Pertamina’s upstream oil and gas business subsidiary, managing domestic and overseas oil and gas fields under production sharing contracts (PSCs), Joint Operating Body–Production Sharing Contracts (JOB-PSCs) and holding a participating interest in several blocks.

The Constitutional Court eliminated BPMigas in its verdict on Tuesday last week, granting parts of a judicial review filed by a number of organizations - including Indonesia’s second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, in relation to the 2001 Oil and Gas Law, which they deemed as “pro-foreign interests and unconstitutional”.

The government has created a new task force under the aegis of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, SKSPMigas, to replace BPMigas. (swd)