Pertamina terminates contract of MT Andhika Arsanti vessel

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said it has terminated the charter contract of MT Andhika Arsanti tanker after it was caught red handed of illegally transferring Pertamina?s crude to another vessel.

Pertamina Vice President for Corporate Communication Wianda Pusponegoro said in a statement obtained Friday that the water police had on June 23 caught red handed the MT Andhika Arsanti vessel of trying to transfer the Pertamina crude to the Panama-flag vessel MT Merlion 2 on Musi River, South Sumatra. The vessel?s captain and another officer have been named as suspect.

MT Andhika Arsanti was carrying 54,310 barrels of crude for Pertamina?s Plaju fuel refinery III in South Sumatra.

Wianda said that Pertamina is determined to cooperate with the water police to help minimize losses in crude transport. She said that as of May 2016, Pertamina has managed to reduce the losses rate to 0.19 percent from 0.34 percent in last year?s same period.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak