Minister installs new Pertamina officials

Minister of energy and mineral resource Purnomo Yusgiantoro installed Monday several top officials for state oil and gas company Pertamina, marking a major reshuffle in the state company?s top management.

Purnomo installed Iin Arifin Takhyan as new upstream director to replace Gatot K. Wiroyudho and Effendi Situmorang as new director of production sharing management.

Iin was director of production sharing management, while Effendi was director of development prior to their appointment to the new position.

The new lineup is based on the presidential decree signed by President Abdurrahman Wahid on July 2.

Rumor about the reshuffle has been circulating for days, but Purnomo has repeatedly denied it.

During the Monday ceremony, Purnomo also installed Muchsin Bahar as news downstream director to replace Ariffi Nawawi. Before, Muchsin was head of marketing and commercial affairs at the directorate.

Replacing Effendi as new director of development was Bardi Machraman, a lecturer at the Gajah-Mada University in Yogyakarta.

Other members of Pertamina?s board of management, Baihaki Hakim and Ainun Naim, retained their positions as president and finance director respectively.

According to Purnomo, Gatot had been given a now job to supervise Pertamina?s international exploration and production, while Ariffi will head the development of Pertamina?s downstream projects, including refinery and petrochemical projects. (Godang/Alex)