Pertamina signs hedging deal with three banks

State owned oil and gas firm PT Petamina signed on Wednesday foreign exchange hedging facility deals with three state owned banks Bank Mandiri, Bank BNI and Bank BRI, the firm said in a statement.

The deals were signed by Pertamina?s Finance Director Arief Budiman, Mandiri?s Corporate Banking Director Royke Tumilaar, BNI?s Finance Director Rizal Budidarmo. Present at the ceremony were Central Bank (BI) Governor Agus Martowardojo, Minister of State Enterprises Rini Soemarno and Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro.

The amount of FX facilities was not specified in the press release.

Pertamina?s President Director Dwi Soetjipto said Pertamina needs foreign currencies, particularly the US dollar, to support its crude oil and oil fuel import activities as well as to finance its operation and investment since most of spare parts and equipment needed by the firm should be bought from foreign manufacturers.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon