Indonesia’s Pertamina invites SOCAR for partnership
By Sara Israfilbayova
Indonesia’s state-owned energy company, Pertamina, has approached Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Japan’s JX Nippon for possible partnership to upgrade the country’s Balikpapan oil refinery.
Pertamina Megaproject Director Heru Setiawan told reporters at an industry conference that they are inviting JX Nippon to see if they are interested or not.
“We’d have a majority (holding) of 51 percent at least,” he added referring to the refinery upgrade project in East Kalimantan province, Reuters reported.
Pertamina had earlier a partnership with JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp for the Balikpapan upgrade, but cancelled the partnership in January 2016 amid cost concerns and a longer-than-expected project timeline.
Earlier, Eko Rukmono, Vice-President of Exploration and Evaluation of Upstream Directorate at Pertamina told Trend that the company has invited SOCAR to take part in explorations in the Asian country.
The two companies could successfully cooperate in the exploration of oil and gas in Indonesia, according to Rukmono.
“Indonesia enjoys huge hydrocarbons reserve. The country’s estimated oil reserve is over 60 billion barrels, while gas reserves are estimated at the level of 30 trillion cubic meters of gas. Indonesia has 48 oil and gas basins, where geological exploration is needed. SOCAR may be useful for Pertamina, and we invite the Azerbaijani company to take part in the exploration in Indonesia,” Rukmono said.
PT Pertamina (Persero) or Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta.
It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin and Permina. The firm is currently (2013) the second-largest crude oil producer in Indonesia behind the US-based Chevron Pacific Indonesia.
SOCAR is a wholly state-owned national oil company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and offshore fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea.
The company includes three production associations, one oil refining and gas processing enterprise, an oil flotilla, a deep-water base plant, two trusts, one institute, and 23 structures.
SOCAR established joint companies (including Georgia and Turkey) alliances, operating in various sectors of oil and gas spheres. It has representative offices in Georgia, the U.S., Turkey, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Great Britain, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Belgium and Canada.
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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is
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