Pertamina may use euro if approved by partners

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina is allowed to use euro in its oil and gas transactions as long as the deal is approved by its business partners, Kardaya Vice Chairman of the government?s oil and gas supervisory agency BPMIGAS has said.

Kardaya said that although there was no restriction imposed in the use of euro in oil and gas transactions, Pertamina should first win approval from its business partners if it wanted to change the payment from American dollar and euro.

"It is possible for us if the change into euro is approved by business partners," he was quoted by Neraca daily as saying.

Pertamina?s director for down stream operation, Muchsin Bahar had said earlier that the state owned oil and gas company was considering the use of euro in its crude import transactions in a bid to avoid the impact of the boycott launched by the United States.

He said Pertamina?s subsidiary Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd. (Petra) which imports crude oil for domestic consumption often had to go through stricter banking procedures after the US government banned the local companies to deal with companies from the Middle East being suspected of supporting tourism.

"The shipment of the oil imported by Perta was often delayed due to such a problem," he said. (*)