Pertamina ready to open L/C to import crude

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina’s chief commissioner Laksmana Sukardi said his company is ready to open a letter of credit (L/C) to directly import crude oil, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Friday edition.

“I think if Pertamina is the company that imports oil, Pertamina will open L/C,” Laksmana, who is also the State Minister for State Enterprises, told the Bisnis before his speech at the PT Bank Permata investor forum in Jakarta on Thursday.

Earlier, Pertamina said it can not provide guarantee to its subsidiary Pertamina Energy Trading Limited (Petral) in connection with the request to open L/C from four foreign banks.

Pertamina’s president director Ariffi Nawawi said as a subsidiary of Pertamina, Petral must try on its own.

“We can not provide guarantee to Petral. The request for guarantee is the issue of Petral not Pertamina’s issue,” Ariffi said.

The four foreign banks are BNP Paribas, Nataxis Bank International, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

So far, Petral and Pertamina do not need to open L/C but through open account.

So far, foreign banks trusted Petral in opening L/C and there was no need for guarantee from Pertamina.

Recently, U.S energy firm Karaha Bodas Company sought the Hong Kong court to seize assets of Petral in connection with its dispute with Pertamina.

But this seizure, according to Ariffi, will not affect Pertamina’s import of fuel. Pertamina can directly import fuel without the help of Petral. (*)