Petronas eyes Sumatra and Java downstream market
Sunday, October 19 2003 - 11:17 PM WIB
Malaysian state oil company Petronas on Sunday admitted it had made some preparation to enter Indonesian downstream market when fully opened in 2005, and would try to enter Sumatra and Java market, which it considered most lucrative compared to other areas.
?We are definitely want to focus our attention to Sumatra and Java market, but we don?t know if we will be allowed to enter both areas or whether regulation would have us to enter other less-lucrative areas as compensation for entrance to Java or Sumatra,? said President and CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican.
Marican said Petronas had held talks with state oil and gas company Pertamina to develop cooperation to tap Indonesian downstream market. ?Among the cooperation we consider is to use Pertamina?s petroleum products,? said Marican. He, however, refused to reveal further detail of Pertamina-Petronas cooperation plan.
Earlier, a Pertamina official said Petronas would enter Indonesian market through acquisition of hundreds of gasoline station and would source the gasoline from Pertamina?s refineries.
Apart from petronas, world?s downstream players such as Chevron-Texaco, ExxonMobil, Total and PetroChina hace reportedly preparing themselves to enter lucrative Indonesian market, especially in the populous island of Java and Sumatra and Java.
Under the new oil and gas law, Pertamina will shed its downstream monopoly in 2005, thus allows entrance of new players.(alex/godang)