Pertamina Losses Rp 15 Trillion on Premium

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - PT Pertamina (Persero) Corporate Secretary Wisnuntoro Sardjono said on Sunday, September 20, that the state oil and gas company is already Rp 15.2 trillion at loss. The number rose to Rp 2.7 trillion, compared to early July 2015, when losses had reached Rp 12.5 trillion.

"We are still selling petrol below the economic price," said Wisnuntoro after a discussion titled ”Our Energy" in Jakarta on Sunday. Currently, Premium is sold at Rp 7,400 per liter, or a difference of Rp 300 to 400 from the economic price at Rp 7,700 to 7,800 per liter.

Decline in world oil prices, said Wisnuntoro, did not seem to affect the loss of Pertamina. The value of the dollar exchange rate also climbed up past Rp 14,000, so [production] costs remains high.

However, Wisnuntoro admitted to Pertamina's performance had improved. Currently, there is an effort to increase capacity and production at six refineries owned by Pertamina, including the Residual Fluid Catalitic Cracking (RFCC) at the Pertamina refinery complex in Cilacap, Central Java.

The refinery produces high-quality crude oil. Pertamina aims to gain a profit of Rp 1.5 to 1.7 trillion from the refinery. "In the past there was no such process, as if there are parties who want us to fall behind,” he said.

There are also efforts to increase production of refineries to meet domestic needs as much as 1.6 million barrels per day. "We increased from 1.05 million barrels per day. So we do not need to rely on Singapore again."

URSULA FLORENE