Indonesia maintains crude pricing formula until September

Indonesia will maintain the current crude oil pricing formula until September, three months behind its previous plan to review it.

?There will be no change with the current pricing formula within the coming six months,? the director of downstream sector of state oil and gas firm Pertamina, Muchsin Bahar, told Petromindo.Com Monday.

Indonesia reviews the Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) formula every six months. It started using it since 1999.

Indonesia should have reviewed ICP formula in January of 2003, but it was extended for another six months until the end of June. The formula had given a good price for the country?s crude oil exports, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro then argued.

The formula uses average prices assessed by three sources: Platt?s (40 percent), Japan?s Rim (40 percent) and the Asian Petroleum Price Index (20 percent). (godang)