Rumors say Baihaki days in Pertamina are numbered
Friday, June 1 2001 - 07:00 AM WIB
The president of state oil and gas company, Baihaki Hakim, has been rumored to be replaced soon. Sources at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources confirmed that Baihkai's days are numbered as President Abdurrahman Wahid had signed a decree for the replacement of Pertamina's board of directors, including Baihaki.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro refused to confirm the rumors. But he also did not reject the rumors if Baihaki was about to be replaced.
A source at the Ministry said that Purnomo was summoned by Abdurrahman last week, in which Abdurrahman presented Purnomo with the decree for the replacement of Pertamina's directors, including Baihaki.
Purnomo, according to the source, told Abdururahman that it was not the right time to announce replacement of Pertamina's directors. But the President insisted that the replacement had been made and it must be announced. The President gave Purnomo freedom to choose the timing to announce the replacement.
The source said the planned replacement of Baihaki was related to a number of issues. First it deals with the purchase of a catalyst from Chevron for the Balongan refinery plant in West Java worth US$97.6 million, that is $30.4 million more expensive than that offered by Criterion.
But Baihaki said that the Balongan case was not an issue anymore, moreover if it is related to the issue of the replacement of Pertamina's directors. "Up to now, there is no indication to relate the Balongan case with the issue of replacement of the direcors."
The second issue deals with Baihaki's rejection to grant the importation of crude oil from Iran by one of Abdurrahman's cronies to be processed by the Cilacap refinery plant. And most of all, the President is disappointed with the stoppage of ExxonMobil's operation in North Aceh, that has caused the state to lost US$100 million of potential income per month.
The source said that the candidate to replace Baihaki included Effendi Situmorang, currently the director of development at Pertamina, Qoyum Tjandranegara (president of PT Perusahaan Gas Negara), Gatot Karyoso Wiroyudo (the director of upstream industry at Pertamina), and Harry Purnomo (former domestic storage and marketing director at Pertamina). (*)