Pertamina Higher Up Opens Up on Company`s Financial Condition

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - During a visit to Tempo office on Tuesday, July 24, State-owned energy company Pertamina Finance Director Arif Budiman revealed that the company is currently facing financial pressure.

“There are financial pressures. I would be wrong to say that there is none,” said Arif in the discussion.

As previously quoted by our newspaper counterpart Koran Tempo, on Tuesday, one of our sources within the government stated that Pertamina’s cash flow is in a critical condition after the company had to bear the government’s assignment cost of providing subsidies for ‘premium’ and diesel ‘solar’ fuel.

“Premium’s provision fee is not covered by government subsidy. Pertamina must bear the Rp25 trillion loss,” said Arif who said that the number has not included the sale losses of subsidized ‘solar’.

Despite acknowledging the financial pressures, Arif asserted that there are no existing programs that will be cancelled. Such as the refinery development master plan project that is currently ongoing, same goes to the Jawa 1 and Jambaran Tiung Biru projects.

“The Jambaran Tiung Biru is the largest upstream project in Southeast Asia that is in process. Lenders are still okay,” he explained.

Furthermore, Arif confirmed that Pertamina is experiencing an operating expenditure drop of Rp4 trillion. However, Arif argued that it is not comparable to the company’s income of Rp500-600 trillion. He also denied rumors that the state-run company is in a state of bankruptcy and maintained that Pertamina still has a USD5 billion working capital facility.

CAESAR AKBAR