Pertamina will sell govt’s share of LPG from Bontang plant

The regulating agency for oil and gas upstream activities BPMIGAS has appointed state-owned PT Pertamina as the seller of government’s share of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the Bontang plant, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Tuesday edition.

“We have already appointed Pertamina. The problems related to operations will be referred to Pertamina,” BPMIGAS chief Rachmat Sudibyo told the Bisnis on Monday after attending the signing ceremony of sale and purchase of gas agreement between the state gas utility PT Perusahaan Gas Negara and the ConocoPhillips.

With this appointment, BPMIGAS will just receive reports from Pertamina regarding sale and purchase of gas agreement, including the fixation of selling price.

BPMIGAS’ marketing chief Djoko Harsono also mentioned that his office officially gave the authority to Pertamina last week.

“Pertamina has been considering assigning its subsidiary Petral as the selling agent. It’s not a problem. Pertamina must be transparent and the selling price must be higher than the market price,” Djoko said.

There is already a plan to sell LPG from Bontang to a Japanese customer starting from January 2005. Until today, BPMIGAS has been waiting for the weekly report from Pertamina. (*)