Pertamina looks for closer PetroChina ties

State-owned oil company Pertamina, while expressing shock at losing its bid to buy Devon Energy's local assets, said on Tuesday it was ready for closer ties with the successful bidder PetroChina.

Chinese oil giant PetroChina said on Monday it planned to acquire Devon's assets for $216 million after Pertamina had said back in January it was also interested in them.

"We are shocked to hear that we have lost again in bidding for Indonesian assets from a foreign oil firm (but) we welcome PetroChina as the winner and we are ready to increase our cooperation with them," a senior Pertamina official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

Devon Energy Corp is one of the largest independent U.S. oil and gas producers.

It has a stake in the South Jambi B production sharing contract and the Jabung block in Sumatra, which produces natural gas. It also has a stake in several other areas across the vast archipelago.

"This also proves we have not made enough effort in bidding as we have lost twice now in bidding for Indonesian assets," the official said.

In January, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) also bought the Indonesian oil and gas assets of Spanish Repsol-YPF for $585 million. (*)