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JAKARTA. State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina will take legal action after results of a Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd (Petral) audit and investigation revealed that third parties had intervened in Petral’s procurement of oil and fuel.
According to Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto, his company had been doing in-depth analysis of the third party that had allegedly caused Pertamina, as holding company, to receive crude oil and fuel supplies at uncompetitive prices.
"Pertamina has taken steps to make sure that such an anomaly does not happen in the future. For example, Pertamina's personnel at Petral who have been implicated by the audit will be quickly processed according to company protocol," said Dwi at the State-Own Enterprises Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday.
The third-parties mentioned in the audit, Dwi continued, were parties who had communicated with Petral to intervene in the procurement process. "We are still looking at what legal action we will take. When ready, we will report to the law enforcement authorities," Dwi said, adding that his company would finish its legal analysis by the end of this week.
State Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno said that Pertamina could collaborate with the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry in taking legal action.
Rini also said she would report the findings relating to Petral and its subsidiaries to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo next week. "We will report investigation to the President. I am waiting for the energy and natural resources minister to get back because he was out of the country," she explained.
Earlier, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Sudirman Said stated that the results of the investigation and audit found that government officials and Pertamina had played no role in oil and gas mafia practices.
Based on the findings, some third parties intervened in the oil and fuel procurement process for Pertamina Energy Services. The minister said he could not publicly mention the identity of the third parties.
He believed Petral Group’s liquidation was necessary as part of an effort to improve Pertamina’s supply chain management and complement a plan to reactivate integrated supply chains (ISC).
As previously reported, the liquidation of Petral Group was among the recommendations issued by the oil and gas sector reform team, led by well-known economist Faisal Basri. The team was formed to study mafia practices in Pertamina Group’s oil and gas procurement processes.(Ayomi Amindoni)
