"They, the merchants, also have to make a tender."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The state-owned oil and gas company, Pertamina, revealed that the imports of crude oil and fuel oil are inevitable in the absence of the discovery of new fields in the country.

"We have only imported a small portion of it. Import for us is a necessity," said Pertamina`s Vice President of Corporate Communications, M. Harun, here on Monday.

According to Harun, it is not easy to purchase crude oil and fuel oil, because it requires the agreement of both parties. Pertamina expects to buy the oils at a competitive purchasing price, but it depends on the seller.

"They, the merchants, also have to make a tender, and see who is offering the very best price. If they`re okay with Pertamina, they may negotiate the trade with our subsidiary, Petral," he remarked.

Although people might believe that Pertamina is the only company with a trading subsidiary company, most oil companies, in fact, have a similar business line.

Pertamina has already imported 110,000 barrels of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, and in the future, Pertamina is planning to enlarge the share of imports from oil wells and fields.

Regarding the acquisition of oil fields in Kazakhstan, Harun asserted that Pertamina always examines all opportunities for expansion in the overseas and local markets.

Meanwhile, in a general meeting of its shareholders, Pertamina has approved to offer a dividend of Rp7.2 trillion to the state (35 percent of its 2011 profits, which reached Rp20.5 billion).

"A dividend of Rp7.2 trillion has been approved from profits of Rp20.5 trillion," Harun said.
(T.A050/INE/KR-BSR/O001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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