Pertamina opposes plan to sell LNG plants

The newly appointed president of the state owned oil and gas company Pertamina, Ariffi Nawawi, has strongly opposed a plan to separate its two liquefied natural gas (LPG) plants - Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan and Arun LNG plant in North Aceh -- from the oil and gas company's main operation, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ariffi also expressed his refusal to sell the two LNG plants to private companies.

"The existing LNG plants should remain under Pertamina. I need to emphasize that there is no standalone LNG plant in any parts of the world that is operated only to process LNG," he said.

As part of Pertamina's consolidation measures, the two LNG plants would be first reevaluated to find out whether it would remain under a direct control of Pertamina or be operated by a joint venture with other companies, he added.

Earlier the deputy of the state minister for supervision of state enterprises, Roes Aryawijaya, said that with the change in Pertamina's status into a limited liability company, all of the company's activities should be based on profit orientation.

Activities which bring a financial burden to Pertamina's overall activities should be avoided, he said, adding that the two LNG plants should, for example, be separated from Pertamina's core business or be sold to other companies. (*)