RI mulls over importing more crude oil from Nigeria

Indonesia, the biggest producer of oil and gas in Southeast Asia, is mulling over increasing the import of crude oil from Nigeria. The import will be undertaken through business-to-business (B to B) between state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and Nigeria?s oil firm, Investor Daily Indonesia newspaper reported on Thursday.

?It will be followed up through B to B. Possibly, it will have value-added content because Nigeria is far away (from Indonesia),? Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said after attending a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VII?s special committee regarding the draft law on mining and coal in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The planned import of crude oil was discussed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in Bali last week. However, Purnomo said that Nigeria has yet made commitment on the volume of crude oil.

?We have to do this because of a huge disparity in oil prices between Nigerian oil and the oil available in Southeast Asia,? Purnomo said.

Earlier, Purnomo said the importing of crude from Nigeria is cheaper. This (the import) will be done if the oil price is soaring in the Asia-Pacific region.

Indonesian government is hoping to import 250,000 barrels per day (bpd). Besides Nigeria, Indonesia has already received commitments from Iran (300,000 bpd) and Saudi Arabia (400,000 bpd). (*)