Pertamina eyes Tuban petrochemical project

The state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina is considering to buy a stake in PT Tuban Petrochemical Industry in East Java as part of its efforts to expand into the petrochemical industry.

But Pertamina processing director Arifi Nawawi said Thursday that the company had yet to seek information about the financial and legal status of the Tuban project.

The Tuban Petrochemical project has been transferred to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) after the company's massive bad debt to local banks had been taken over by the agency. IBRA is mandated to recover the loan by restructuring the debt including through the sale of the company's asset or stake.

Arifi said that petrochemical industry would be a profitable business in the future. He added that Pertamina had the necessary raw materials resource to support the petrochemical industry.

He said that the petrochemical business had been given to private companies under the supervision of the ministry of trade and industry, and now was the right time for Pertamina to also jump in to develop the sector. (Godang)