TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina finally disbanded Petral, its trading subsidiary based in Hong Kong and Singapore. It has established, as its replacement, the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC), which is expected to take over the functions and tasks of Petral but to be directly controlled by Pertamina headquarters in Jakarta.
But many are still skeptical that ISC can work any better than its predecessor, which was often described as a den of the oil and gas syndicate. ISC Pertamina Vice President Daniel Purba recently spoke to Tempo reporters Gustidha Budiartie and Ayu Primasandi in Jakarta on the changes.
Is ISC ready to fully take over from Petral starting in 2016?
We are still waiting for the results of the audit. So far, we have followed the right path in the acquisition as well as transactions of imported products and crude oil. Later, when everything has been transferred to ISC, we will determine which areas will be further optimized or which collaboration with other divisions needs to be improved.
What will be the big difference between a Petral and an ISC tender?
It will actually be the same. We will carry out the process transparently, according to regulations. Anyone will be able to participate, it will not only be limited to national oil companies (NOCs). There will be no intervention at all. As proof, today 75 percent of supplies come directly from big oil producers. The remaining 25 percent are traders, and even the big traders.
Reportedly, the tender winner to supply crude oil for the July-December period is still a trader and the NOCs are believed to be close to the oil and gas mafia.
There's nothing like that. There hasn't been any tender for the July-December period. For July, we purchased from the spot market because we were late in doing it. For our August-December supplies, we will open the bidding, but the price must be above their own estimates (HPS), so no one party is selected. That kind of information is so disruptive.
Petral was known as the nest of the oil and gas syndicate. How can ISC guarantee it will be free of this problem?
We will create more open competition, provide opportunities to markets to sell and buy Pertamina commodities. We know nothing about a mafia but they can be anywhere. Basically, today everyone will compete fairly and transparently. So far, the market's response on this has been positive. To purchase oil, we now go directly to the producers, like to Malaysia, to Iraq, which in the past did not exist. Everything had to go through Singapore. (*)