Indonesia to extend crude oil pricing formula

Indonesia will extend its current crude oil pricing formula for another six months until the end of June next year, a senior government official said on Friday, helping to lock in revenue gains from rallying oil markets.

"Minister of mines and energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro has signed the extension of current crude formula for another six months to June next year," Director General of Oil and Gas Iin Arifin Takhyan told Reuters.

The extension will come into effect as of January 1 next year, he said.

The Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) 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).

Buyers had been pushing the government to make the three ICP sources' weighting equal, Iin said.

"We believe the current formula reflects the real market price for our crude. That's why we do not change the current formula system because we are satisfied with the price," Iin said.

The official Indonesian crude price for the country's main Minas crude has been calculated at $29.64 per barrel for November, up $0.48 from October, Tokyo traders have said.

Indonesia's crude oil production fell slightly in November to one million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.02 million bpd in October.

Output of condensate, which is not included in the OPEC quota, also fell in November to 148,000 bpd from 150,000 bpd in October.(*)