No Assets Sale In Pertamina: Minister

Pekerja mengisi tabung elpiji 3 kg di salah satu Stasiun Pengisian Bahan Bakar Elpiji (SPBE) di Blitar, Jawa Timur, Rabu (16/5). PT PERTAMINA MOR V memprediksi adanya peningkatan konsumsi elpiji di Jawa Timur selama Bulan Ramadhan sebesar 7% dari konsumsi normal bulanan atau meningkat menjadi101.307 MT (Metric Ton) untuk tabung 3 Kg (Bersubsidi) dan peningkatan sebesar 9% (5.006 MT/bulan) dibandingkan dengan konsumsi normal bulanan yaitu sebesar 4.593 MT untuk Bright Gas 5.5 kg, Bright Gas 12 Kg, dan 12 kg. Antara jatim/Irfan Anshori/mas/18

Jakarta (Antaranewws Jatim) - State Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno denied on Friday that she had written a letter to state oil and gas firm Pertamina to sell its assets.

"We will not sell assets. We wrote the letter to respond to Pertamina's proposal to the government. The letter is just an in-principle permit serving as an agreement with shareholders to assess the strategic corporate action plans of Pertamina," she told members of the Federation of United Pertamina Labor Unions (FSPPB) who staged a rally at the State enterprises Ministry in Jakarta on Friday.

The minister said in the letter she firmly asked the management of Pertamina to make in-depth and comprehensive assessment along with the board of commissioners to propose the best options. The options will later be brought to the general meeting of the company's shareholders in accordance with the rules.

"Read carefully my letter. In the letter I ask (Pertamina) to look into the possibility of taking a downshare corporate action for its working areas. But I also stress that the control remains in the hands of Pertamina," she said.
There are no words "assets sale" nor "approval of assets sale" in the letter, she said.

On the contrary, the minister said she has asked Pertamina to maintain its strategic assets in the upstream sector by acting as a controller.

She said she will always focus on making the company's finance healthy so that it will remain sturdy in the long run.

"As a shareholder, we will unlikely plunge Pertamina into a misery. My responsibility is how to make Pertamina sound in 100 years' time, for all of our grand children and grand grand children," she said.

As a state firm, Pertamina is an agent of development to boost the national economy and improve the people's welfare, she said.

"As members of Pertamina family, you are also responsible for carrying out the function," she said. *