TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The fate of the State Gas Company (PGN) in the Fasken Shale Gas field in the United States, is in serious danger of losing its investment there. The condition of its American partner, Swift Energy Co. also continues to decline. Without a quick and proper bail out, state funds invested by a PGN subsidiary, Saka Energi Indonesia, could vanish into thin air.

The management of PGN and Saka Energi should have reacted fast when the New York Stock Exchange reprimanded Swift Energy for allowing its shares to remain below the minimum US$1 per share for the past month. That is far below the price of one year ago, when Saka Energi acquired 36 percent right to exploit in the Fasken gas field, which was US$12 per share.

The New York Stock Exchange has also reminded Swift Energy over its failure to make its market capitalization and equity reach US$50 million, the minimum amount for companies to avoid being expelled from the stock exchange. In fact, Swift Energy's capitalization is far below Saka Energi's investment, which was US$175 million or Rp2.42 trillion at the latest exchange rate.

The alarm was actually sounded last month, when Standard & Poor's lowered Swift Energy's rating from B- to CCC. According the Standard & Poor's, Swift Energy did not show signs of solving its liquidity problem in the short run.

Before it is too late, PGN and Saka Energi officials should work hard at saving their investment. They should not take the risk by claiming that the collapse of Swift Energy shares would not affect their investment in the Fasken block. PGN and Saka Energi would do better to renegotiate their investment contract with Swift Energy.

Internal and external audit should also be immediately carried out. The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) should move fast to audit the investment of a subsidiary company before it has negative impact on the mother company. Besides seeking the root of the problem, an open and transparent audit is import to neutralize any suspicions that emerge.

The audit can also look into the choice of Saka Energi to buy the investment portfolio of Swift Energy, instead of directly managing the Fasken gas fields. With this investment portfolio, Saka Energi will not be able to bring home or sell directly gas from Fasken. Even if Swift Energy made profit, Saka Energi would only get a portion of the dividend. Yet, Saka Energi, which usually works upstream, was set up to secure gas supplies for PGN consumers.

We often hear of investment portfolios becoming an easy way to acquire company funds and hide the tracks. Ill-intended people can buy 'brass' company shares at the price of 'gold' companies. The BPK surely has the capacity to find the real motive behind this investment.

If the choice of the Fasken field investment was purely on the basis of a business calculation, the authorities need not look for errors. The case of the Fasken investment must not be treated like the case of leasing airplanes by Merpati Nusantara Airline in 2006. After it was clear that it was a victim of fraud, Merpati CEO Hotasi Nababan was tried and sentenced to four years in prison. Yet, Hotasi was never proven to have had ill-intent, nor that he received any bribes. (*)