Pertamina will handover tanker to Frontline this month
Tuesday, September 21 2004 - 03:21 AM WIB
State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina will handover its very large crude carrier (VLCC) to Frontline Ltd this month despite a recent request from the Business Competition Supervisory Committee (KPPU) to stop the handover of the tanker amid alleged irregularities in the sale transaction, the Koran Tempo newspaper reported in its Tuesday edition.
The KPPU is presently examining the process of the tanker tender because it suspects Pertamina violated the law on monopoly during the sale process.
Pertamina’s director of finance Alfred Rohimone said the handover ceremony will certainly go ahead in order to avoid the seizure of the tanker by the U.S. power company Karaha Bodas Company (KBC).
Pertamina and KBC are involved in a legal dispute over payment of compensation for the cancellation of power plant project in West Java.
Moreover, Pertamina must abide by the agreement made with winner of the tender.
“It (handover) should be fast before it was stolen by somebody, Alfred told the Tempo on Sunday.
If Pertamina, according to Alfred, fails to delivery the tanker to the buyer, it must pay compensation to Frontline.
“If later we have to pay, whose money we have to pay,” said Alfred.
That’s why, Pertamina has dispatched a team to oversee the handing ceremony to Ulsan in South Korea. (*)