Indonesia's Pertamina to disband oil trading arm

Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said on Wednesday it will dissolve its oil trading arm, Petral, following the investigation of the president' s anti-graft campaigns on the oil sector, CEO of PT Pertamina said here.

Indonesian Energy and Mines Minister Sudirman Said disclosed that the policy was expected to boost efficiency in supplying oil to PT Pertamina and slash prices to customers in the country.

"Pertamina decides to start the process of halting operation of Petral and its group and then to liquidate firms under the groups, " CEO PT Pertamina Dwi Soetjipto said.

The process of disbandment is expected to be completed by April 2016.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has previously aimed at halting Petral trading activities in part to restore investor confidence in the country's oil sector.

Petral supplies one-third of Indonesia's oil needs with a near monopoly on the trading of crude and oil products in and out of the country.

Petral had stopped trading of crude and oil products for the former OPEC member country, Indonesia, since January and the task has been taken over by PT Pertamina through integrated supply chain.

"We see the role of Petral in the business of Pertamina is not significant anymore," said Dwi.

Petral has over 2 billion U.S. dollar assets and based in Hong Kong.

The southeast Asia's largest economy currently imports about 500,000 barrels of oil products a day. Endi