PT Pertamina (Persero) continues to transform into a business entity that has a broad economic scale impact on society. Pertamina must optimize fuel services and distribution to maintain public trust and achieve energy self-sufficiency targets.

This was conveyed by PT Pertamina (Persero) Director Simon Aloysius Mantiri in a hearing (RDP) with the House of Representatives at Nusantara I Building, Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Thursday (11/9/2025).

In the hearing, the directors and CEOs of a number of subholding companies under Pertamina reported in detail a number of achievements and strategies of the state oil and gas company in running their business.

Pertamina President Director Simon Aloysius Mantiri stated that currently, Pertamina is strengthening its organizational structure by establishing a Directorate of Business Transformation and Sustainability to align the company's priorities with Danantara's mission.

One of them is the integration of downstream businesses that will unite Pertamina Patra Niaga, Pertamina International Refinery, and Pertamina International Shipping, which will be completed by the end of 2025.

"We are optimizing all lines to maintain the company's reputation. Pertamina will focus on the core business of oil, gas and renewable energy, so it will release and merge a number of subsidiaries, such as Pelita Air Services which will merge with Garuda Indonesia, as well as insurance and hospitality companies will be combined," said Simon when opening his presentation.

"Pertamina will focus on the core business of oil, gas, and renewable energy, so it will release and merge a number of subsidiaries," said Simon.

From January to July 2025, Simon stated that Pertamina had managed to record revenues of IDR 672 trillion. Pertamina's production capacity reached 1 million barrels equivalent per day, with a valuable refinery yield of 84%.

The company's financial performance remained generally healthy with net profit after tax growing 6% year on year at US$1,597 million. This was despite a significant parameter decline due to lower crude oil prices due to oversupply from OPEC+ countries and weaker demand due to economic slowdown and geopolitical uncertainty.

Despite having to adjust to the decline, Pertamina remains the largest contributor to state revenue at IDR 225.6 trillion, being the largest dividend contributor to Danantara, as well as being the largest tax-contributing SOE.

"The current crude oil price is US$66 per barrel, but it could drop to US$59-US$60 per barrel. This decline in crude oil prices has resulted in a decline in revenue upstream, in addition to reduced price differentials on the refinery side as many of the world's refineries are shutting down," Simon explained.

Production and sales strategy

Not only does an increase in supply and a decrease in global oil demand hamper Pertamina's development, but the decline in natural reserves is also one of the challenges that must be overcome.

Pertamina Hulu Energi Director Awang Lazuardi explained that although Pertamina's oil production currently accounts for 69% and Pertamina's gas accounts for 37% of national production, the decline in natural reserves remains a concern.

"If we do nothing, natural decline can reduce oil production by 22% and gas by 16%. Pertamina Hulu Energi has currently developed 577 drills for exploration, and drilled 15 wells to obtain additional reserves of 804 million barrels equivalent," said Awang.

By doing this management, Pertamina's oil production as of August has reached 557 thousand barrels per day from the target of 564 thousand barrels per day by the end of 2025. In addition, gas production was realized at 2,774 million cubic per day from the target of 2,822 million cubic per day.

The achievement in terms of production is directly proportional to Pertamina's achievement in terms of sales.

Pertamina Patra Niaga President Director Mars Ega Legowo Putra said that currently, Pertamina's sales volume reaches 59 million kiloliters, with 41% of the sales being non-subsidized fuel.

"With NIK-based data collection in the MyPertamina application, LPG 3 kilogram and subsidized fuel transactions are increasingly targeted. In addition, we also diversified the Pertamax Green 95 biofuel product and successfully implemented the BBM 1 price program in 573 of 15,345 Pertamina gas stations throughout Indonesia," Ega explained.

Keep the people's trust

Despite the good performance that was explained transparently, a number of members of Commission VI of the House of Representatives expressed a number of criticisms of the recent field situation which was quite disappointing.

Member of Commission VI Gerindra faction Mufti Nurul Anam stated that Pertamina's production target until 2029 is very far from the national energy consumption needs. If Pertamina is unable to fulfill it, Mufti is worried that the ideal of energy self-sufficiency in 2029 will not be achieved according to the President's target.

"It is better that the Asta Cita is revised than our face is all lost because Pertamina's inability to achieve energy self-sufficiency has made the President's Asta Cita a monument," said Mufti.

Not only that, Mufti even questioned whether Pertamina was involved in the fuel scarcity at private gas stations that occurred recently.

"If people are willing to queue for hours at private gas stations, it means that public trust in Pertamina is not okay. Why doesn't Pertamina introspect itself besides apologizing? Why is there no real action on this?" he asked.

The distribution issue was also highlighted by a member of Commission VI of the PKB faction, Rivqy Abdul Halim. Some time ago, Rivqy received a report of fuel scarcity in his constituency, Jember, East Java, due to the disconnection of the distribution route due to landslides.

Pertamina's fuel supply to Jember, which is supplied only by truck, has been severely hampered, causing the community to face a 4-day shortage.

"This scarcity almost caused horizontal conflict, because Pertamina's gas station in Lumajang did not accept fuel purchases from vehicles with Jember plates. The Situbondo Regent even prohibited Jember residents from buying fuel in Situbondo," said Rivqy.

Rivqy also requested an audience with Pertamina's President Director to find a technical solution by inviting representatives of PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), which he said was ready to help supply fuel by train.

"When I came to the meeting, Pertamina apparently only sent Public Relations. I was very angry because this was very harassing. I came with aspirations, wanting to find technical solutions, and not asking for a program. KAI is ready, but what about Pertamina?" he said.

Downstream business reorganization

Responding to the criticism of the two members of Commission VI DPR RI, Simon Mantiri apologized for the unpreparedness of Pertamina's services in the field. Regarding fuel imports, he emphasized that as an energy distribution business entity, Pertamina also has a quota that has been determined by BPH Migas and ESDM.

"I can tell you that it is not true. Pertamina does not prevent or limit the export of fuel to any private gas station," Simon said.

From this scarcity incident, Simon said his party will continue to evaluate itself and work very hard to meet the target of energy self-sufficiency. "But we also need synergy and collaboration to be able to achieve these targets together," Simon said.

"Pertamina does not prevent or limit the export of fuel to any private gas station," Simon said.

Contacted separately (11/9), Trisakti University Faculty of Earth and Energy Technology lecturer Pri Agung Rakhmanto said that the fuel scarcity situation at private gas stations indicates the government's efforts to regulate and reorganize the fuel retail business.

Pri assessed that there are at least two aspects that the government wants to emphasize or reorganize. First, the control of fuel supply is in the hands of the government, not Pertamina. Second, there must be a correlation between the downstream fuel trading business license and the obligation to maintain stocks or build downstream infrastructure.

He added that in order to strengthen national fuel reserves that can be accessed by all downstream fuel players, it is clear that the government is currently reorganizing distribution. Pertamina may not be aware of this plan, although the scarcity at private gas stations has resulted in people buying fuel at Pertamina-owned gas stations.

"Distribution regulation is indeed the authority of the government, including the import mechanism, B2B cooperation, and how the implementation of the regulation will be, all of which are the concerns and work of the current government," Pri concluded.