Chief economics minister leads RI delegation to Iran

Indonesia?s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution met with top government officials in Iran on Sunday including a courtesy call to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a bid to bolster economic and investment cooperation between the two nations including in the energy sector.

The Office of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs said in a statement issued Monday that Darmin?s two-day visit to Iran, accompanied by Vice Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Arcandra Tahar and other government senior officials as well as officials of a number of companies including state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, is a follow-up of a visit by President Joko Widodo to Teheran in December of last year.

During the visit, Darmin proposed Pertamina?s plan to operate two oil fields at Ab Teymour and Mansouri in the province of Bangestan, southern Iran, to the National Iranian Oil Company, the statement said.

According to Pertamina recent study, in general, each of the fields contain potential oil reserves of more than1.5 billion barrels and potential production of more than 200 bpd, the statement added.

The statement said that in the energy sector, the government of Indonesia is seeking to purchase LNG from Iran at competitive price to meet domestic demand particularly for power plants, fertilizer firms, and special economic zones. ?The Indonesian delegation also invite investors from Iran to invest in Indonesia?s oil refinery projects,? it said, adding that the government also discussed cooperation in other economic areas with its Iranian counterpart.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak