East Kalimantan businessmen seeks to take part in Pertamina refinery maintenance

Businessmen of Balikpapan, East Kalimantan called on Friday on state oil and gas company Pertamina to award contracts to local firms for the maintenance of its refinery in the town

Two businessmen identified as Rendy S. Ismail and Hendra Prasetya said thus far most the maintenance works at the refinery had been being handled by the local firms but they did the job as the sub-contractors of PT Elnusa Petro Teknik (EPT), Kaltim Post daily reported.

EPT, which is a joint venture of Pertamina and a company linked to former President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, had the exclusive right to maintain all the refineries belonging to Pertamina.

Pertamina has terminated the contract with EPT on Nov. 3 but allowed the company to continue the maintenance works until January next year.

Pertamina's processing director Ariffi Nawawi earlier said Pertamina would form a wholly-owned subsidiary to handle the maintenance works.

It remains unclear however if Pertamina will transfer the maintenance works to the new company or offer the contracts for the maintenance works through bidding, where other companies could participate in.

However, the two businessmen called on Pertamina to prioritize Balikpapan companies in selecting companies for the maintenance works. (*)