Pertamina close to acquire Tuban Petro

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina is close to acquire the assets of Tuban Petro Group including the Tuban oil refinery owned by the group?s subsidiary PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical (TPPI), Kontan reported on Monday.

The paper quoted President Director of PT Tuban Petrochemical, Riki Ibrahim as saying that the group has met with the Oil and Gas Governance Reform Team to discuss the proposed acquisition by Pertamina of the Tuban refinery and two other refineries owned by Tuban Petro.

Riki said that during the meeting, the management of Tuban Petro proposed the setting up of two task forces to facilitate the planned acquisition. One of the task force will deal with related authorities, while the other will be responsible in concluding the acquisition.

Pertamina President Director Dwi Sutjipto said that his company was ready to acquire the Tuban Petro Group.

The paper said that Tuban Petro Group is now 100 percent owned by the Ministry of Finance?s Asset Management Company, or better known as PPA, as part of assets transferred to the government by its former owners to repay debts.

Tuban Petro owns 59.5 percent of TPPI, in which Pertamina owns a 26.61 percent stake and the remainders owned by Sojitz Corporation and Itochu Corporation. (*)