KBCs files bankruptcy petition against Pertamina's unit in Hong Kong
Friday, July 2 2004 - 11:43 PM WIB
Pertamina's president Ariffi Nawawi said he had reported the case to the government.
"We shall do our utmost to prevent Petral from being declared bankrupt," Ariffi was quoted as saying by the paper on Friday after a meeting with Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro.
A Pertamina source told Petromindo.com that aside from Petral, the petition filed by the American firm in the Hong Kong court also demand the bankruptcy of two other Pertamina subsidiries there, that is Tugu Insurance and Korea Indonesia Petroleum Company (Kipco).
Pertamina has a 95 percent stake in Petral, a 45 stake in Kipco and a "small" stake in Tugu Insurance, according to the source.
Ariffi said should the Hong Kong court declare Petral bankrupt, Pertamina would take over Petral's job. Petral currently handles approximately 60 percent of Pertamina's fuel and crude imports.
Karaha Bodas has launched several legal actions in the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore, where Pertamina has operations, to obtain compensations for the postponement of its geothermal power project in West Java. All courts in the countries have ruled in favor of KBC. In the U.S., an appeal court has also issued a ruling in favor of Karaha
Soon after the U.S. appeal court issued the ruling, Pertamina's financial director Alfred Rohimone earlier said Pertamina would pay the compensation demanded by KBC and would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
However, according to Bisnis, Pertamina's spokesman Hanung Budya Yuktyanta recently said that the state firm had asked to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Appeal Court's ruling.
He said should the Supreme Court accept the petition, Pertamina would continue the legal battle against KBC. However, if the Supreme Court rejects the petition, Pertamina will pay the compensation demanded by the American firm.
KBC has asked for more than US$290 million in compensation from Pertamina. (Godang)