Govt likely to liquidate Petral soon

JAKARTA. State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno has implied that the government would soon liquidate Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd (PT Petral), a unit of state-owned Pertamina working in oil exports and imports.

“Insya Allah [God willing] this year [a decision will be made]. I have already received a report from Pertamina and I will take it to the President to decide,” she said in a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VI on state enterprises in Jakarta on Friday.

Rini said Pertamina’s report covered Petral’s operations.

“I am asking for a detailed report on Petral, including its legal status and employees,” she said, adding that a big part of Petral’s operations had been moved to Jakarta from Singapore.

“Since January 2015, they [Pertamina] have begun direct purchases from Jakarta and not through Singapore,” she said as quoted by Antara news agency.

With the direct purchase by Pertamina, Petral will no longer be needed.

There have long been calls for Petral, which was established in 1976 with Pertamina as a majority shareholder, to be liquidated as it has been suspected to be a haven for corrupters from the state-owned oil company.