Megawati expected to sign decree on Pertamina?s new status end-March

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will likely sign later this month the long-awaited decree to change state oil and gas firm Pertamina into a limited liability company, a new status originally planned to be assumed by the company early next month, according to a well-placed official.

?We expect the President to sign the government decree (PP) by the end of this month. All members of the drafting team seem to nearly agree on the entire contents of the draft decree,? TA Nur Winakun, spokesman and head of the legal affairs section of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, told Petromindo.Com Monday.

?The team is completing the final wording of the decree,? Nur Winakun said. Team members include officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Finance.

The government had planned to give Pertamina a limited liability status on April 1, 2003, thus ending its decades long monopoly over the country?s upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors.

Nur Winakun said further that the team was not tasked with calculating Pertamina?s assets, and that another group of officials was finalizing that work.

Reports said that Pertamina?s assets reached around Rp100 trillion (US$=Rp8,855) while Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said they could amount to between Rp130 trillion and Rp180 trillion if government assets like oil refineries and oil depots are transferred to the company. (godang)