Pertamina to acquire 26 new tankers

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina plans to acquire 26 new crude oil tankers to help bolster efficiency in the import of the commodity.

Pertamina said in a press statement Sunday that it currently operates 200 vessels, of which only 64 are owned by the company, while the other 136 are leased.

?Optimization of own vessels in the transport of crude and fuel products will continue to be intensified amid the current drop in global oil price,? the company said. It, however, did not say when the acquisition of the new vessels will be completed.

Pertamina said that in June, it has started using own vessels in the import of crude from Malaysia to be processed by refineries at home. It pointed out that in June alone, there were three shipments from Malaysia using own tankers namely MT Gamalama (two shipments), and MT Gunung Geulis (one shipment).

It claimed to have made a saving of US$22 million during the first quarter of this year from using own vessels.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak