Ministers to hold talks with Iran officials over Pertamina?s bid for oil, gas blocks

Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arcandra Tahar and Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut B. Panjaitan flew to Iran on Friday to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Arcandra said in a statement that the two plan to also hold talks with Iranian energy and oil ministers over state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina?s bid to obtain operating interest in two oil and gas blocks in Iran, namely Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, which each is estimated to have reserves of more than 1.5 billion barrels.

Arcandra said that the government fully supports Pertamina to acquire operating interest in the two oil and gas blocks considering their huge reserves. ?Our proven reserves currently stand at 3.6 billion barrels, while two fields (in Iran) alone have 3 billion barrels (of reserves), so it?s really huge. That?s why we hope, if (Pertamina) manages to obtain (the assets) the oil will be imported here, to add value,? Arcandra said in the statement.

Pertamina submitted its proposals for the development of the two Iran oil and gas blocks in February to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). The proposal was a follow-up step to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies on August 8, 2016. Based on the MoU, Pertamina was given a chance to file proposals for development of Ab-Teymour and Mansouri by the end of February 2017.

?The proposals are being evaluated by NIOC. We?re waiting for the response of NIOC,? Arcandra said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak