Govt supports Pertamina-Rosfnet cooperation

By Godang Sitompul

The government supports the cooperation between state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and Russian firm Rosfnet, Pertamina said in a statement on Wednesday.

Both firms held a meeting on Wednesday to follow up the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by both firms in Lenexpo St. Petersburg, Rusia on the sidelines of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in mid-June 2015.

Pertamina?s Vice President Corporate Communication Pertamina Wianda Pusponegoro said during the meeting with the leaders of both firms, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said and Minister of State Enterprises Rini Soemarno indicated they support both firms? plan to cooperate in downstream and upstream sectors.

According to Wianda, Rosfnet has a production level of 5.2 million barrels per day with 50 percent of the production processed in the firm?s refineries in China, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

?The government has signaled its support for Pertamina and Rosfnet to cooperate in concrete way in oil and gas upstream and downstream sectors. Aside from have huge sources of production, Rosfnet also masters competitive oil processing technology with modules which can be implemented to speed up refinery projects in Indonesia,? Wianda said.

?The government also expects there will be a concrete agreement in the near future, which in the first phase will be focused on the security of oil supply to our refinery projects,? she said.

Aside from cooperation in processing sector, Rosfnet also open itself for cooperation in upstream sector. At present, Pertamina is in the process of opening data room of Rosfnet assets in Russia. ?Hopefully, there will be a concrete picture of cooperation between Pertamina and Rosfnet in the near future,? she said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon