Pertamina records net profit of Rp 4.1 trillion in the April-Dec. 2000 period

State oil and gas company Pertamina revealed on Friday (May 4) that the company booked a net profit or an after-tax profit of Rp 4.1 trillion in the 2000 fiscal year, that ran from April through December, 2000.

That amount was about the same with the net profit of Rp 5 trillion booked by the company in the 1999/2000 budget year, that ran from April 1999 through March 2000, according to Pertamina finance director Ainun Naim.

Pertamina changed its fiscal year of March through April into calendar year of January through December, following the government move to change its budget year from fiscal year to the calendar year.

Accompanied by Pertamina director for downstream industries Arifi Nawawi and deputy director of domestic sales Muschin Bahan, Ainum expressed his confidence that Pertamina's profits would increase a bit this year.

"I'm optimistic that we could reach the target because in the first quarter of this year, the company already booked a before-tax profit of Rp 3 trillion," Ainun said at a press conference.

Ainun called the press conference to counter a report that Pertamina was facing financial difficulties to import fuel and crude oil for domestic needs.

Ainun said the report was totally baseless, contending that Pertamina booked profits last year and in the first quarter of this year. In addition, Pertamina had good cash flow, with Rp 5 trillion and hundreds of millions of U.S. dollar denominated cash and cash equivalent.

He noted that that cash and cash equivalent assets would be enough to import fuel and crude oil for domestic needs. He noted that Pertamina normally needed around US$150 million to $350 million per annum to import about 200,000 barrels of crude oil, that accounts for 25 percent of domestic crude oil needs, and about 20 percent of domestic fuel needs.

The exact amount of funds needed to import crude oil and fuels would depend on the price of crude oil in the international market, the rupiah's exchange rate against the U.S. dollar as well as the operation of local refinery plants.

At the current crude oil price of around $25 a barrel, and the rupiah exchange rate of Rp 11,000 per dollar and with all refinery plans operating at full capacity, Pertamina would need $200 million to import crude oil and fuels this year.

He contended that the fluctuation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar would not affect Pertamina's profits nor cash flow as Pertamina had a natural hedge, as it also generated U.S. dollar in its income side. Ainun said Pertamina would only face troubles if the rupiah exceeded Rp 20,000 per dollar.

"So there is no ground to say that we are facing financial difficulties," he said. (*)