Pertamina forms import management agency

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has established an import management agency to ensure transparency in the company?s imports of crude oil and fuel products.

?The agency has been established, and its members will be announced soon,? Pertamina?s president director Ari H. Soemarno said in Jakarta on Thursday.

Ari said that Pertamina was seeking a professional from outside the company to lead the agency. ?He will report directly to the president director,? he added.

Meanwhile, the director of Pertamina?s human resources department, Waluyo said that the agency would take over the task of the company?s processing and marketing departments in importing both crude oil and fuel products.

?With the establishment of the new agency, we hope the process of crude oil and fuel imports or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will more transparent,? he added.

Pertamina imports about 40 percent of the crude oil needs of its refineries. The company also imports oil products and LPG because the production of the local refineries could not meet the high domestic demands. (godang)