Pertamina asked to open bidding for maintenance of refineries

PT Elnusa Petro Teknik has asked its parent company Pertamina to hold an open bidding for the maintenance of the oil and gas company's oil refineries in the country, Antara reported on Wednesday,

"We are ready to compete with other companies if Pertamina holds an open bidding for the maintenance of its oil refineries," Elnusa's vice president Soedjanto was quoted as saying by the news agency when he attended the opening ceremony of an oil and gas seminar and conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He acknowledged that Elnusa obtained the jobs to maintain all Pertamina's seven oil refineries through a direct appointment. But he said he was quite optimistic that the company would be able to compete with foreign companies even though Pertamina held an open tender to carry out the maintenance works.

Soedjianto admitted that foreign companies might be more efficient in doing the maintenance job but he said that the involvement of a foreign company would be very costly. He added that his company would be able to reduce the costs because most of the company's workers were recruited from Pertamina.,

He said that the company's success to win the tender to carry out maintenance work of an offshore refinery owned by Maxus and the procurement work for the ARCO II showed the ability of the company to compete in an international bidding. (*)