Friends in High Places

Setiawan Djody's presence inside the meeting room of the Heritage Building at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry last April made Dwi Soetjipto uneasy. Dwi, Pertamina's CEO had never invited Djody to any meetings between the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said and Rosneft Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC) CEO, Igor Sechin. The closed meeting that afternoon with Sudirman should only have been attended by people from Pertamina and Rosneft.

Dwi was clearly nervous. Even though Igor Sechin and his team were already there, he kept leaving the room, waiting for the host to arrive. He wanted to inform Sudirman about the presence of this uninvited guest. Dwi claimed not to know about the meeting participants when he asked to confirm the event last week. "I had seriously cautioned Igor that this was a direct business (between the two companies). I said, please control your team. If someone plays around with it from the outset, it could become a mess," Dwi said.