Pertamina, PGN set up joint committee to identify synergy

By Febry Silaban

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and state-controlled gas distribution firm PT PGN Tbk have set up a joint committee to identify potential areas for synergy as the two prepare to merge to create a holding company for state enterprises engaged in the energy sector.

Pertamina Finance Director Arief Budiman said in a press conference Tuesday that there are quite plenty of areas that could be synergized including in terms of operation, assets development and utilization, and investment. ?The joint committee has been set up. Many investment can be synergized, overlapping of projects between Pertagas (Pertamina gas distribution subsidiary) and PGN can be avoided,? he said.

Director of Gas and Renewable Energy at Pertamina, Yenni Andayani said that the joint committee had started meeting in January of this year to identify potential synergy in asset utilization between Pertamina and PGN, through which Pertamina can use the gas infrastructure facilities owned by PGN, and vice versa.

Elsewhere, Arief said that this year will be focused on synergy in terms of operation, the holding company over the next five years could make new investment worth up to US$1.6 billion.

State Minister of State Owned Enterprises Rini Soemarno has said that under the planned holding company for state-owned energy firms, PGN will become a subsidiary of Pertamina.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak