Pertamina's 2005 profits far exceed the target

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina booked profits of about Rp 11.3 trillion in 2005 or about 177 percent of Rp 6.4 trillion targeted for the year thanks to an improvement in the efficiency of the company's downstream and upstream operations.

Abadi Poernomo, the spokesman for the oil and gas company, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the gross profits in the upstream operations reached Rp 18.49 trillion or about 205.4 percent of the initial target.

In the downstream operations, Pertamina booked gross profits of about Rp 5.26 trillion or about 150.3 percent of the target, he said, adding that the improvement in the company's business performances were mainly due to the drop in production costs both in the downstream and upstream sectors.

According to him, the cost for crude oil production dropped from between US$10 and US$9 per barrel in 2004 to an average of US$8.79 per barrel, while the cost for gas production and exploration fell to US$0.56 and US$0.43, respectively, per barrel equivalent.

In addition, the company was also able to cut the cost of the refinery operation to US$1.62 per barrel from the initial target of US$1.71 per barrel. (Godang)