Jakarta - PT Pertamina saved as much as Rp1.3 trillion (US$98 million) from fuel and crude oil procurements in the January to March period this year.

"This is a good achievement. Pertaminas hard work earned it profits that will benefit people," Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said stated at a press conference here on Friday.

He said that the US$49 million worth efficiency came from the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC), including US$22 million from hydrocarbon products and US$27 million from non-hydrocarbon products.

Moreover, Pertaminas marketing unit saved US$49 million from reduction of losses.

"So in the last few months since the new Pertamina management assumed office, efficiency of US$98 million has been achieved," he revealed.

The minister added that he just reported the liquidation of Petral to President Joko Widodo.

"He welcomed it," he affirmed.

Earlier, the president gave directives that Petrals liquidation must be carried out by Pertamina itself, with the government acting only as a supporter and receiving reports about it.

"That is why I reported it to the president just now," Said remarked.

During the meeting, the president said that the myth that had been untouchable so far had now been settled.

"Bringing the supply chain management to order is a major milestone. He also emphasized the importance of carrying out an investigation so all issues, rumors and speculations are cleared," he stated.

The minister further noted that if investigations found that laws had been violated, the president will ask for accountability and take the case to the law enforcement agency concerned.

Furthermore, during the meeting with the head of state, Minister Said had also reported the developments in the process of moving operations from Petral to ISC.

He stated that the purchase of oil was entitled to a discount of US$1.3 to US$1.5 per barrel, but based on records, Petral reported discounts of only between US$0.25 and US$0.30 per barrel.

"This indicates two aspects---wide room for efficiency and unused discounts in the past. We do not know where they went. This is what will be subjected to investigation," he pointed out.

In addition, Said affirmed that the president was resolved to do away with the past system and bring in the ISC.

PT Pertamina has officially terminated operations of its subsidiary PT Pertamina Energy Trading Limited (Petral) and will liquidate it.

"We saw that the role of Petral in Pertaminas business activities was no longer significant. So we decided to stop its operations from today," Sutjipto stated.

Pertaminas integrated supply chain (ISC) will take over the activities of Petral such as crude exports and imports and refinery production.

There have long been calls for Petral, which was established in 1976 with Pertamina as a majority shareholder, to be liquidated as it has been suspected to be a haven for corrupters from the state-owned oil company.

Source : ANTARA News