Pertamina Buys Sonangol Oil without Discount

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Although there is no clarity yet on the business cooperation with Sonangol EP, state oil and gas company PT Pertamina (Persero) already bought crude oil from the Angola-based company. A total of 950,000 barrels of oil from Sonangol is touted to arrive in Cilacap, Central Java, on March 24.

Tempo sources said that the shipment to Cilacap would be Pertamina's second from Sonangol. The first cargo with equal weights was received in Balikpapan refinery in February. Thus, Sonangol has shipped 1.9 million barrels of oil to Indonesia since the beginning of this year.

The process of oil imports from Angola is questioned by the House of Representatives’s Commission VII chairman Kardaya Wanika.

Apart from preceding the unclear scheme, the oil was purchased for market prices without a discount. In the cooperation scheme designed in October last year, Vice President of Angola Manuel Domingos Vicente—who is also Sonangol’s boss—promised President Joko Widodo that they would give a 15-percent discount off the average price.

But a Tempo source at Pertamina said the discount was not given by Sonangol even though Pertamina has signed a contract to import up to 5.7 million barrels of oil for six months from Sonangol.

Each cargo that arrives in Indonesia from Sonangol is worth US$60 million. In total, the contract to bring in six cargoes of oil from Angola is worth US$300 million.

This transaction is considered to have a negative impact on Pertamina. In addition to not getting a discount, Pertamina has to pay a ship rental fee of US$4.7 million per one cargo.

Ahmad Bambang, Pertamina's marketing and commercial director, said the oil from Sonangol to Cilacap refinery is not part of the Pertamina-Senangol joint venture contract, which was initiated in October of last year.

The oil is purchased by Petral, a Pertamina subsidiary based in Singapore, before the agreement between the government and Sonangol was signed.

"This is a business to business process. Petral was the one who participated in the bid by Sonangol," he told Tempo, Thursday.

Meanwhile, Petral Integrated Supply Chain Pertamina vice president Daniel Purba admitted that the company bought the oil directly from Sonangol for a market price plus-minus US$50 cents to US$1 per barrel.

"Everything is done transparently and according to procedures," he said.

Daniel said the import deal with Sonangol is not a permanent one. Pertamina has the right to evaluate the contract on the third month. "If they are happy with it, we will continue. If not, we will terminate the contract," he said.

GUSTIDHA BUDIARTIE | BERNADETTE CHRISTINA | AYU PRIMA SANDI