Arcandra: Iran gives positive response to Pertamina?s proposal

By Thomas Sembiring

Petromindo

Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arcandra Tahar claimed that Iran has given positive response to proposals from Indonesia?s state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to invest in Ab-Teymour and Mansouri oil fields.

?The response is quite positive, they want to cooperate,? he told reporters on Wednesday.

Arcandra and several other senior government officials and corporate leaders including Pertamina visited Iran on February 26-27 as part of efforts to bolster economic and investment cooperation between the two countries. During the visit, Pertamina submitted its proposal to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to help develop the two oil fields in Iran. This was a follow up to a MoU signed by the two firms on August 8 of last year, under which Pertamina was given a chance to file proposals for the development of Ab-Teymour and Mansouri fields.

Arcandra said that the government is working hard to help Pertamina win approval from Iran to develop the two fields, which have combined reserves of more than 3 billion barrels, close to Indonesia?s total reserves of 3.8 billion barrels. He added that production at the fields could be increased to 300,000 bopd, which could contribute to help ensure future supply of oil crude for Indonesia if Pertamina is given participating interests in the fields. ?The reserves (at Ab-Teymour and Mansouri fields) are quite large, that?s why we?ll try to get,? he said.

Following the visit to Iran, Arcandra said that the government will further study what next steps should be taken to help realize Pertamina?s interest in the Iranian oil fields.

Elsewhere, he said that the Indonesian government is also seeking to import LPG from Iran, which could account for up to 10 percent of the country?s LPG import.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak