Not all 10 oil trading companies will be accepted by Iraq

Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut B. Pandjaitan said that not all the 10 oil trading companies recommended by the Indonesian government to import crude oil form Iraq under the NU-sponsored oil for food program would be accepted by Iraq.

Speaking with executives of the 10 companies and government officials, Luhut said he knew that the Iraqi government would not accept all the 10 companies because some of them were involved in the corruption, collusion and nepotism practices. The Iraqi government would drop these graft-infected companies.

But Luhut refused to name those possibly dropped from the list.

The 10 trading companies appointed by the government to import crude from Iraq are PT Perta Oil, Concord Perdana Indonesia, Golden Spike Energy Indonesia Ltd, Istana Karang Laut, Swadaya Saran Berlian, Accia Nusantara, Gemilang Energindo, Sentosa Srimukti Gas Corp, utama Dressindo Persada, and Ramada Agung Internasional.

Former commander of the Army Special Force (Kopassus), Prabowo Subianto, was also present at Thursday's presentation. He controls Golden Spike Energy Indonesia Ltd.

Indonesia has entered into a barter deal with Iraq, in which Iraq would export crude and Indonesia will export food products and medicine. The value of the barter trade, conducted under the UN's oil for food program, will reach $500 million this year. This will be raised to $1 billion next year. (*)