Indonesia, Timor Leste seek to increase oil, gas cooperation

The Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources? Directorate General of Oil and Gas held a bilateral meeting on Wednesday in Bali with its counterpart from neighboring Timor Leste in a bid to expand cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas sector.

The Directorate General of Oil and Gas said in a statement that the Indonesia-Timor Leste Bilateral Meeting on Oil and Gas was a follow-up of President Joko Widodo?s visit to Timor Leste on January 26 where leaders of the two nations agreed to expand cooperation in the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector.

The statement said that the Wednesday meeting was aimed at seeking ways for cooperation in exploration activities between Indonesian state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and its Timor Leste counterpart Timor GAP EP, and a joint study between the Indonesian and Timor Leste governments.

It added that discussions also focused on opportunity for Pertamina to be engaged in the downstream oil and gas business in Timor Leste as well as human resources development.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak