Pertamina has eyes on Middle East upstream oil: Report

Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina is interested in upstream investments in the Middle East but has not signed any agreements, a company official said on Monday.

"We are looking at upstream in the Middle East, maybe Oman or Yemen, but we're still researching," Pertamina upstream director Iin Arifin Takhyan told reporters on the sidelines of the Gas 2002 Indonesia conference.

He said in its first venture overseas, Pertamina had been awarded two blocks in Vietnam, as part of the tripartite exploration agreement between Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Last week, Vietnam's PetroVietnam signed a production-sharing contract with Malaysia's Petronas and Pertamina, to jointly explore oil and gas offshore Vietnam's southern coast.

As part of the agreement, Indonesia will also allocate an exploration block in Indonesia to the three parties.

"We will allocate an area to the three parties, possibly the Kendal block in East Java, and we will also go into Malaysia upstream," Takhyan said.

Indonesia, Asia's only member of the OPEC oil cartel, is currently a net oil exporter, but its output is set to dwindle over the next five years. (*)