Pertamina set to become public company this year

With the completion of the restructuring process of its balance sheet, the government hopes that state-owned oil and gas company would be able to become a public company this year, Kompas reported on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday, Minister of State Enterprises Sofyan A. Djalil said that with the establishment of Pertamina?s new balance sheet, the state owned oil and gas company was now waiting for the audit of its consolidated financial report for 2004 by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and public accountants.

When all the auditing process had been completed, the government would turn Pertamina into a public company to make it more transparent, he said, adding that the company would become a public company even though its shares would not be listed on the stock market.

Sofyan said that Pertamina would hold a shareholders meeting next week to among others discuss the business plan and budget. He said there was no agenda to change the company?s board of executives during the shareholders meeting. (*)