Pertamina, ONGC to sign MOU

The international arm of India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp, ONGCVidesh, will sign a memorandum of understanding later Wednesday with Pertamina to develop the latter's upstream oil and gas exploration operations, an Indian Ministry of Petroleum official told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.

Under the MOU, privately-owned ONGCViedesh will also provide Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina with technical expertise to upgrade its refineries, the official said.

"Indonesia needs technology for upgrading refineries and exploration," the official said, adding that there are possibly nine exploration blocks in Indonesia that could be developed under the deal.

If the MOU is finalized, it would be the first time an Indian oil company has entered into an upstream collaboration with Indonesia. (*)