Head of Pertamina's office in Batam suspended

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina's management has suspended the head of the firm's office in Batam as part of the efforts to crack down on fuel smuggling activities.

Pertamina's president director Widya Purnama said in Jakarta on Monday that Nono Asmano would be temporarily removed from his current position because there was a strong indication that he was involved in fuel smuggling activities.

Meanwhile, the head of the criminal division of the national police, Makbul Padmanegara, said that Nono had been named as one of suspects in the fuel smuggling activities.

Pertamina and the national police have forged a strong cooperation in curbing the growing fuel smuggling activities in the country. Pertamina and the police have also chosen industrial town of Tangerang as a model in curbing the fuel smuggling activities.

"Tangerang has been chosen because it is the home of many industries which have the potency to abuse the fuel subsidy," Makmul said

Widya noted that that refineries in Balongan, West Java, and Cilacap, Central Java, were also vulnerable to smuggling.

The two oil refineries have similar storage facilities to those in Lawe Lawe, near Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, where a major smuggling ring was uncovered last week, according to Widya. The smuggling ring, which include Pertamina's officials working at the Balikpapan refinery, transmitted the fuel to ships at sea via the pipeline used to transmit crude oil to the refinery.

"The model (of crude oil transmission system to the refineries) is similar," he said. He declined to name other areas prone to fuel smuggling.(dino)