The dismissal of president director Dwi Soetjipto and deputy Ahmad Bambang, following months of disagreements, seems to be just a hint of the messy management within the firm, which had hindered progress in realizing several of the company’s mega projects.

To help stabilize operations while awaiting for a new permanent CEO to be appointed within the next 30 days, the government assigned Yenni Andayani, the company’s director for gas and renewable energy, as acting president director.

Pertamina president commissioner Tanri Abeng said the lack of teamwork was what ultimately forced the board to dismiss the two and propose an overhaul of the firm’s top executives.

“They [Dwi and Ahmad] just did not fit with each other. There had been no teamwork at all,” said Tanri. “We hope the board of directors and commissioners can continue to work together. Pertamina must become a worldclass energy company.”

Several cases provide evidence that Dwi and Ahmad were not getting along, including when the latter overstepped his position by signing off on gasoline imports that Dwi allegedly kept putting off. Even though the imports were needed, the board of commissioners agreed that Ahmad overstepped his authority.

But Ahmad was not entirely to blame. State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Rini Soemarno promoted Ahmad as deputy in October last year and gave him authority similar to that of the president director amid speculation of a rift between Rini and Dwi.

From that point until Friday, Pertamina had been run by two captains.

Tanri also said that promotions of the company’s 20 strategic positions remained unclear, including the position of president director of Pertamina Gas (Pertagas), a Pertamina subsidiary.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s appointment of Dwi as Pertamina’s top leader in Nopolitical vember, 2014, had drawn ire from the beginning, with critics highlighting Dwi’s lack of experience in the oil and gas sector.

This was despite his leadership illustrated by his success in merging three of Indonesia’s state-owned cement firms Semen Padang, Semen Gresik and Semen Tonasa into Semen Indonesia and later making it the first SOE as a multinational company through overseas acquisition.

Meanwhile, the deputy position held by Ahmad, formerly the Pertamina marketing director, was also questionable as it did not exist prior to his appointment last October.

The position was approved on the basis that Pertamina’s goals were becoming more ambitious and therefore needed increased support.

Minister Rini justified the move to establish the position, as the board of commissioners had hired independent consultants who came up with similar suggestions.

“We did it as shareholders and accepted the board of commissioners’ proposal to include a deputy president director,” she explained.

Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Commission VII overseeing energy, Gus Irawan Pasaribu, said that this was not the first time someone without significant experience in a field was assigned to lead a stateowned firm. He cited state-owned electricity firm PLN president director Sofyan Basir, formerly president director of state-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), as an example.

“The difference is, Sofyan Basir has strong leadership skills and was able to support PLN. This did not happen at Pertamina,” he said, adding that it would be a boon for the next Pertamina leader to have some background in the oil and gas sector.

(Read also: Pertamina president director, deputy sacked over 'leadership issues')

Pertamina, which as of the third quarter last year posted a sizeable profit of US$2.83 billion, has set ambitious goals, including constructing and improving national refineries and acquisition of overseas oil and gas fields amid dwindling domestic production.

ReforMiner Institute executive director Komaidi Notonegoro claims the dismissal of both Dwi and Ahmad was premature.

However, he acknowledged that the government, specifically the SOEs Ministry, might need fresh faces.

Pertamina is notorious for inefficiencies and as a cash cow for political and economic gains.

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