Pertamina may get rights to drill, produce oil and gas in Somalia

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina is in talks with the Somalian government to drill for oil and gas in the African country as the company tries to expand overseas, the Bloomberg reported on Thursday quoting the company's President Director Widya Purnama as saying.

Somalia is offering Petamina a license to develop an oil area about 300 kilometers outside the capital Mogadishu, Purnama told reportersa in Jakarta. Pertamina officials plan to visit the African country and hold talks with the Somalian government next month, he said.

"They are inviting us because thay want a state oil company from a Muslim country to develop their areas," Purnama said.

Indonesia, the second-smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is trying to expand overseas to secure supplies because domestic output has fallen by an average of 5 percent in the past five years. The country may become a net importer this year as output falls and demand rises, threatening the Southeast Asian nation's membership of OPEC.

Pertamina and partner Verenex Energy Inc. won a contract from the Libyan government in September to explore for oil and gas in the North African country.(*)