Riau to audit Caltex to obtain important data on its operation

The Legislative Council of the Riau province and the local administration have decided to form an audit team to audit PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia to enable them to get accurate data related to the financial and operational condition of the oil giant, Riau Pos reported on Thursday.

The deputy chairman of the Commission III of the Legislative Council, Johar Firdaus said that the local administration had faced difficulties to get information related to the province's contribution from oil sector to the state budget.

''Because of such difficulties, we then decided to audit the company," Johar said. "The main purpose of the audit is that we want to know exactly how much the provincial administration will receive from Caltex's oil production when the autonomy law becomes affective next year," he said.

Under the new autonomy law, the local administration will receive 15 percent of oil tax and royalties paid by an oil company to the government and 65 percent from tax and royalties paid for gas production.

Vice President for General Affair of PT CPI, Abdul Hamid Batubara, said that the management welcomes the local administration's plan to audit the oil giant.

He said that the Caltex faced no problem with the audit because such kinds of activities are not new at all for the oil giant. "Within a year, Caltex is audited for at least 16 times either by internal or by outside auditors," he said. (*)