Bahlil Ogah Responds To Purbaya About Pertamina Malas Bangun Kilang

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia. (Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia opened his voice regarding the statement of the Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadive regarding his statement that Pertamina did not have a new refinery.

Bahlil admitted that he was reluctant to respond to the statement.

"I don't want to comment on other people's statements. Please ask those who commented," Bahlil told the media crew when met at the BPH Migas Office, Thursday, October 2.

According to him, his job as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources is to oversee the refinery construction process carried out by Pertamina

"My job is to ensure that my friends collaborate with Pertamina for the refineries to run as quickly as possible," he continued.

Previously, Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadive highlighted that energy subsidies continued to increase every year due to the high portion of fuel imports, especially diesel and diesel types.

He alluded to Pertamina's promise in 2018 which stated that it would build seven oil refineries within five years, but until now, none of these plans have been realized.

"Since then until now, I have never built a new refinery. So later, if you meet Sanantara again, ask Pertamina to build a new refinery. I once, when I was in Maritime, I once pressed them in 2018 to build a refinery," he said.

Dia pun meminta anggota DPR untuk ikut mengawasi Pertamina agar janji tersebut tidak menjadi wacana semata dan dirinya siap mengambil tindakan tegas jika komitmen tersebut tidak dijalankan.

"Mereka janji mereka akan bangun tujuh kilang baru dalam waktu lima tahun. Sampai sekarang kan enggak ada satupun. Jadi bapak tolong kontrol mereka juga. Dari saya kontrol, dari bapak-bapak juga kontrol. Karena kita rugi besar. Karena kita impor dari mana? Dari Singapura. Minyak, produk-produk-produk minyaknya," ucapnya.

He also asked members of the DPR to participate in supervising Pertamina so that the promise does not become a discourse alone and he is ready to take firm action if the commitment is not carried out.

"They promised they would build seven new refineries within five years. Until now there is none. So please control them too. From me control, you also control. Because we have a big loss. Because where do we import from? From Singapore. Oil, oil products, oil products," he said.