Petral defends oil procurement tender process

PT Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd (Petral), a subsidiary of state oil and gas company PT Pertamina based in Singapore, denies allegations that the tender mechanism undertaken by the company in buying crude oil from international markets has not been done transparently.

President Director of Petral, Nawazir, said the tender has been done transparently and normally attracting around 55 registered participants.

These companies meet the criteria in order to prevent failure in supplying crude oil for domestic market, he noted.

?Petral purchases crude oil from Nigeria, Asia, Australia and former Russian countries. The procurement is done through open tender,? he said.

Nawazir said Petral gives equal opportunities to all participants in the tender.

He made the comment in response to comments made by State Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan that the government mulls a plan to dissolve Petral amid alleged lack of transparency in oil procurement tenders, which often damaged Pertamina?s reputation.

Editing by Roffie Kurniawan