The Petral Purge

PERTAMINA began a new chapter in its history last week with the dissolution of Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd (Petral). But there is no reason to stop there. For too long, the Pertamina subsidiary had been suspected of being awash with 'hot money' from commissions to buy and sell oil. Pertamina's new managing director, Dwi Soetjipto, revealed the extent of the wastage within Petral. Only three months after Pertamina took over the responsibilities of Petral, the state-owned oil company made a profit of US$20 million, or around Rp260 billion. This is why the inefficiencies that have continued for years must be unmasked in their entirety.