January 2001, Pertamina's restructuring commences

State oil and gas company Pertamina will start its massive restructuring program on January 2001. But, the company is still waiting for a presidential decree that will be used as a legal basis for the restructuring, according to Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim.

"I presented our restructuring plan to the government early August, 2000 through Pertamina's board of commissioners. However, because there will be Cabinet reshuffle, the presidential decree, I think, will only be available in September. Thus, we can effectively start our restructuring program in January, 2001," he said on Monday.

Under the restructuring program, the structure of Pertamina's organization would be revamped, including in the structure of its board of directors.

"Currently we have six directorates. But after restructuring, we will have only two big structure of directorates: one to focus on the upstream sectors while the other would focus on downstream industries."

Pertamina's businesses would then be divided into those two categories, and this process is expected to be completed within two years.

The restructuring program would automatically result in the reduction of employees. But Pertamina would pursue a natural process to reduce its employees, namely through its existing employment rules. During the restructuring process, Pertamina targets to reduce 1,000 employees every year. (*)