Indonesia, Iran sign cooperation agreements in oil and gas
Tuesday, May 31 2016 - 08:08 AM WIB
The agreements cover cooperation in Iran?s oil and gas upstream sector, oil and gas product trading, gas project, oil refinery, petrochemicals, oil and gas supporting industry and oil and gas worker capacity upgrading.
The agreements were signed in Tehran during the visit of Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said to the country. Sudirman met Iranian Oil Minister Bejan N. Zangeneh, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The visit was a follow-up to two previous meetings between both countries, namely the Indonesian-Iran Joint Committee meeting in Tehran in March 2015 and the Indonesia-Iran Joint Technical Committee on Oil and Gas meeting in mid-February 2016.
?This is a new landmark in our oil and gas cooperation with Iran. On the short term, there is an agreement on supplies of refrigerated LPG and crude oil from Iran to Indonesia. We also open cooperation opportunities in upstream investment and human resources development,? Sudirman said.
Under the agreement signed by state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Iran will supply 80,000 tons of refrigerated LPG to Indonesia this year. The volume will be increased to 500,000 tons next year.
Sudirman noted that Pertamina is interested to invest in Iranian upstream sector.
?Pertamina is interested in two working areas in Iran which will be put into auction in the near future. Indonesia, through Pertamina, expects to be given priorities in participating in Iranian oil and gas fields,? he said.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon