Purnomo says oil refineries be transferred to Pertamina

Oil refineries currently operated by state oil and gas firm Pertamina should be given to that company so as to make it strong, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Monday.

?I hope that the government will just surrender the assets to Pertamina. We need to make it strong and highly valued,? Purnomo told reporters.

Pertamina had filed a formal request to the government to transfer to it oil refining plants and other state assets. So far, no decision has been made on the request.

Pertamina will start operation as a normal limited liability company in 2003 after holding decades long monopoly over the country?s upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors.

The chief of the Indonesian office of the world Bank, Mark Baird, had proposed that Pertamina operate as an upstream oil and gas firm only so that refineries and other state assets currently operated by the firm can be sold to other companies.

Senior officials of Pertamina said such proposals aimed to reduce its competitive edges so that foreign firms will face no difficulty to control the country?s downstream oil and gas sector when it will be fully opened to the private sector in a couple of years.

Pertamina currently operates nine oil refineries which are located in Pangkalan Berandan (N. Sumatra), Dumai and Sungai Pakning (C. Sumatra), Musi (S. Sumatra), Balikpapan (E. Kalimantan), Cepu and Cilacap (C. Java), Balongan (W. Java) and Kasim (Papua). (godang)