Minister invites Chinese oil giants to increase investment in RI

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan invited Chinese state-owned oil and gas giants including China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petrochemical Coporation (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), and investment firm CITIC, which also holds oil and gas portfolio, to increase investment in the Indonesian upstream oil and gas sector.

Upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas said in a statement Wednesday that Jonan visited the headquarters of the four companies in China on Tuesday. During the meetings, the minister among others offered the Chinese firms to invest in oil and gas working areas being offered by the ministry?s directorate general of oil and gas, and in ?mature? oil and gas fields in the country, where they can also team up with Indonesia?s state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina or other operators of the fields. The minister also offered opportunities to develop petrochemical projects in Papua and Maluku.

?I invite them to increase investment in the Indonesian upstream oil and gas sector,? Jonan said in the statement, adding that considering their sizes, the investment made by the Chinese firms in Indonesia so far is quite relatively small.

Meanwhile, SKK Migas Chairman Amien Sunardyadi claimed that the Chinese firms expressed interest to make new investment in Indonesia. ?In fact, Sinopec is thinking of carrying out initial study in relation to petrochemical project opportunity in Teluk Bintuni (Papua) and Masela (Maluku),? he said. Japans Inpex Corp is planning to develop the gas-rich Abadi field in Masela block, Maluku Province, of which part of the gas output will be allocated for downstream industries such as petrochemical.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak