Pertamina to appeal against antimonopoly agency?s verdict

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina (Persero) will soon file its appeal against the antimonopoly agency?s ruling that the company, together with its partners PT Medco Energi Internasional and Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, had breached the business competition law.

Pertamina?s spokesman Mochamad Harun said that Pertamina would contest the ruling of Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) at the high court because the monopoly watchdog had mistakenly interpreted the ?beauty contest? conducted by the state oil company and Medco in selecting its partner in the Donggi Senoro LNG project.

Harun said that KPPU could not differentiate between the beauty contest and a tender or competitive bidding as stipulated in articles 22 and 23 of the Monopoly and Unfair Business Practices Law.

?The beauty contest we conducted was different from the tender process as stipulated in the law,? he said.

The monopoly watchdog found that both Pertamina and Medco guilty of conspiring when selecting Mitsubishi as their partner in the project. KPPU also found that the two companies cooperated with Mitsubishi to reveal information about PT LNG Energi Utama, Mitsubishi's competitor in the beauty contest.

KPPU fined Pertamina and Medco Rp 10 billion and Rp 5 billion, respectively for their involvement in the manipulation of the tender process on the selection of their partner in the Donggi Senoro LNG Project in Central Sulawesi. The agency also fined Mitsubishi Rp 15 billion in the case.

Medco has issued a statement regretting the KPPU ruling, while Mitsubishi has not yet issued a formal statement on the issue. KPPU however allows the three companies to continue the project despite the verdict.

"The development of the LNG project is expected to be completed and it is expected to start LNG delivery in the fourth quarter of 2014," Medco said in its press release. (Godang/giok)