Pertamina not yet notified on asset seizure: Baihaki

State oil and gas Pertamina said on Wednesday it had not been notified that independent power producer Karaha Bodas had begun seizing its assets around the world so as to collect US$261 million in unpaid damages.

Pertamina president director Baihaki Hakim said Pertamina will do its best to avoid Karaha Bodas from seizing its assets.

Reports said Karaha?s move followed Pertamina refusing to pay any portion of the US$261 million as ruled in December 2000 by Swiss-based arbitrators.

?We will continue our struggles. On March 15, witnesses from Indonesia, represented by Pertamina and the Ministry of Finance, will be summoned (by the arbitrators),? Baihaki told reporters.

Karaha Bodas is an independent power developer which in 1994 entered into contracts with Pertamina and state electricity company PLN to develop the Karaha Bodas geothermal projects in Tasikmalaya and Garut regencies in West Java.

Karaha invested over US$100 million in the projects, but in 1998 the Indonesian government suspended them due to economic crisis.

Karaha filed for arbitration in Switzerland in accordance with Arbitral Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Rules. In December 200, the arbitrators ruled against Pertamina, awarding Karaha nearly $261 million in damages. The U.S. Federal Court in Houston, Texas backed that ruling. (godang)