Pertamina orders 10 new tankers this year

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina will soon open a tender for the construction of 10 new tankers to support the distribution of the company?s oil and gas in the country, Bisnis Indonesia reported Wednesday.

Pertamina?s senior vice president for shipping, Suhartoko said that the 10 tankers would be worth about $220 million or about Rp 2.01 trillion.

Six of the tankers would be in the form of general purpose tankers with a capacity of up to 17,500 dead weight tonnage (DWT) worth about $150 million ($25 million each), and the other four units would be in the form of ordinary tankers worth about $70 million.

?The tender, which is now under preparation, will be held in April. It will be opened only to national shipbuilding companies, he said. ?The tender will be closed to foreign shipbuilding companies,? he added.

Up to December 2011, Pertamina operated 171 ships of different sizes and types. Of the total, 125 ships were leased from third party. (*)