Pertamina asks govt to pay LNG marketing fee

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has asked the ministry of finance to disburse the LNG (liquefied natural gas) marketing fee worth of Rp5.4 trillion, the Koran Tempo newspaper reported in its Monday edition.

It is not clear until this day when the ministry of finance will pay the fee, which was supposed to be due last year.

Pertamina finance director Alfred H. Rohimone said his company badly needs the money to improve its cash flow.

“The decision will be taken in this matter. This problem will be settled with oil and gas upstream authority BPMIGAS and the ministry of energy and mineral resources,” Alfred said in Jakarta after attending a Pertamina’s organizing committee meeting over the weekend.

Since the implementation of the Law No. 21/2001 regarding oil and gas, Alfred mentioned, Pertamina will no longer receive the retention fee from the government. Pertamina will receive remuneration for all the jobs assigned by the government except the distribution and sale of gasoline, which was transferred to BPMIGAS. Retention fee comprises 85 percent of its income.

Yet, in reality, Pertamina is still performing LNG marketing functions because certain customers wanted the company to continue the operations.

“For example, Japanese gas customers want to deal only with Pertamina,” Alfred said.

That’s why, Pertamina asked the government to pay its LNG marketing fee immediately to strengthen the company’s cash flow, Alfred said. (*)