Pertamina pays Rp 50.9 trillion in taxes

State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina reported on Sunday that from January to November 2011, it paid Rp 50.9 trillion (US$5.58 billion) in taxes to the government.

That amount is the highest in the past six years, and more than twice its total unaudited net profit of Rp 20.7 trillion in 2011. The company said it would improve its performance to increase tax contribution and net profits in years to come.

From 2006 to November 2011, the company contributed Rp 265 trillion in taxes, comprising Rp 45.3 trillion of income taxes and Rp 173.8 trillion of value added tax. In addition to the taxes, the company also contributed Rp 5.1 trillion in custom payment and Rp 41.5 trillion in regional taxes and retributions.

“Pertamina’s tax contribution has increased continuously over the past six years. From 2006 to 2011, our contribution jumped 41 percent, a growth of 7 percent per year,” the company’s spokesperson, Mochamad Harun, said in a press statement.

Prior to 2011, Pertamina’s highest yearly tax contribution was Rp 50.7 trillion in 2008. During that year, the company paid Rp 33 trillion in value added tax, Rp 9.7 trillion in regional taxes, Rp 7.4 trillion in income taxes and Rp 600 billion in customs.

In 2010, the company paid Rp 45.8 trillion in taxes to the government, Rp 42.6 trillion in 2009, Rp 50.7 trillion in 2008, Rp 38.5 trillion in 2007 and Rp 36.1 trillion in 2006.

Regarding net profits, from 2006 to November 2011, Pertamina recorded Rp 111 trillion or Rp 18.6 trillion per year in average.

The highest profit was booked in 2006, Rp 21.2 trillion, followed by 2011 with Rp 20.7 trillion (unaudited) and 2008 with Rp 19.6 trillion.

In 2012, the company aims to make Rp 23.5 trillion in net profit and revenue of Rp 527 trillion. It also plans to produce 532,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of oil and gas, comprising 244,000 barrels of oil and 1,672 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd).

Despite that positive contribution and outlook, Pertamina failed to achieve their production targets in 2011. The company’s target in 2011 was 208,000 barrels per day (bpd), while, as reported in this paper on Dec. 21, the actual production was estimated to have been 196,800 bpd.

Upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas’ deputy for operations, Rudi Rubiandini, revealed that Pertamina had failed to achieve its production target due to its preference to use cheap equipment. “In the tender process [to procure equipment], the company preferred to give the projects to bidders offering the lowest prices therefore, the production result is not as high as expected,” he explained.

On that issue, ReforMiner Institute energy expert Pri Agung Rakhmanto argued that BP Migas was also responsible if Pertamina used low-quality equipment in its operations because all oil and gas contractors were supervised by the agency.