Pertamina in talks with overseas refineries for crude processing deal

By Febry Silaban

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina is currently in talks with overseas refineries to process crude oil produced by the company?s assets abroad.

Pertamina President Director Dwi Soetjipto said Monday that his firm has started talks with three refineries located in Asia including India, Taiwan, and Singapore.

He added that under the planned crude processing deal, Pertamina will import the output to meet domestic fuel demand.

Dwi said that Pertamina has been selling abroad its crude production, both from local and overseas assets, which can?t be processed at local refineries. He said that through the crude processing deal, the company hopes to be able reduce the cost of fuel import.

Editing by Reiner Simajuntak