Pertamina denies having financial problems to acquire Repsol-YPF
Thursday, February 15 2001 - 04:30 AM WIB
State oil and gas company Pertamina has denied allegations that it is facing financial difficulties to acquire offshore oil fields in the Seribu islands off Jakarta shore, belonging to its contractor Repsol-YPF (formerly named YPF-Maxus).
Pertamina's development director Effendi Situmorang said that Pertamina was just waiting the entrance of other bidders to know the fair pricing for the oil fields.
"It's not true. We don't have funding problem. We are ready, but we cannot give a definite figure because we haven't quoted any price," he told journalists on the sidelines of a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission VIII on mines and energy on Wednesday (Feb. 14).
A report by Madrid-based Expansion daily on Feb. 10 stated that Pertamina was facing financial difficulties and therefore, it could not yet present its bid for Repsol YPF's oil fields, projected to value around US$800 million.
"YPF Maxus as the owner of the oil fields have offered us around US$800 million for 50 percent ownership. Pertamina does not yet want to offer bid, we just wait and see. After the price reaches the lowest level, we will then file our bid," Situmorang said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said at the hearing with Commission VIII that the government in principle had approved Pertamina's plan to acquire Repsol's oil fields, but it was still awaiting further steps from Pertamina.
"We ask Pertamina to review its plan thoroughly. So, we cannot say yet whether we approve the plan or not," he said.
Argentina-based YPF-Maxus was acquired by Repsol of Spain in 1999, and then it was renamed Repsol-YPF.
Repsol-YPF is Pertamina's second largest oil production sharing contractor after PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia. Maxus produced an average of 122,652 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in January this year, compared to 591,386 bpd produced by Caltex.
Unlike Caltex whose oil fields are located onshore the Sumatra island, mostly in Central Sumatra, Repsol-YPF produces oil from offshore oil fields. Repsol-YPF, in fact, is the country's largest offshore oil producer, followed by Conoco (with oil output of 61,440 bpd) and Unocal (58,596 bpd). (*)