Elnusa waits approval for IPO

PT Elnusa, one of state oil and gas company Pertamina?s performing subsidiaries, may soon offer up to 20 percent of its stake to the public, according to an executive.

?We are planning to do it as soon as possible. We have talked about this with our shareholders and we are still waiting for the green light from the government,? Elnusa president director Rudy Radjab said Tuesday.

The plan to go public, Rudy said, is part of the company?s strategic target to become a better-managed business entity, which could eventually improve performance. The firm is targeting to boost its annual revenue to Rp 6 trillion by 2009 about four times from its current revenue.

Elnusa is a holding company which groups together 14 business units operating in the oil and gas service sector, both upstream and downstream, and information technology.

?Elnusa is the only company under Pertamina that possesses the competence in oil and gas, both upstream and downstream, while also expertise in information technology,? Rudy said.

This year, the company is aiming to book total revenue of Rp 1.7 trillion, with an estimated profit of Rp 100 billion. ?So far (this year), our revenue has reached around Rp 1.3 to 1.5 trillion,? he said.

He did not mention last year?s figure. But the Rp 100 billion profit estimate is a stark contrast to the firm?s financial condition in 2000, when it recorded Rp 250 billion in losses.

?We had plans to launch the IPO earlier. But the crisis struck and we had to drop it as the company was dealing with some $60 million in debt,? Rudy said.

Meanwhile, the oil and natural gas receiving station development project in Tambun, Bekasi built through Elnusa?s subsidiary TP EWS Oilfield Service has been completed and managed to boost the capacity of the receiving station from 6,400 barrels of crude oil per day to 15,000 barrels per day.

PT EWS Oilfield Service?s president director Islam K Djafar said that the Tambun project needed an investment of around Rp 20 billion.

The project owned by PT Pertamina served as a pilot project for other areas. ?After the project (in Tambun) being completed, we plan to build a similar project in southern part of Sumatra,? he said. (godang)