Contractors urged to form consortiums for TotalFinaElf?s projects

East Kalimantan?s contractors have been advised to form consortiums to take part in large projects of oil and gas firm TotalFinalElf E&P Indonesia, East Kalimantan based Kaltim Post reported on Tuesday.

The head of TotalFinaElf?s communication affairs, Nurul Fazrie, said on Monday most contractors in East Kalimantan are small so that they can not easily win tenders if they compete individually, according to the newspaper.

Nurul admitted his company had grouped its small projects into big ones before awarding them to large contractors for efficiency reasons.

He was responding to complaints from East Kalimantan?s contractors that TotalFinaElf had preferred awarding its projects to large contractors. The vice chairman of the East Kalimantan chapter of Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), Johny Ng, aired their dissatisfaction.

TotalFinaElf operates oil and gas fields in East Kalimantan and is the country?s largest gas producer. (*)