YPF Maxus offers seven oil fields to Pertamina

YPF Maxus has offered the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to manage seven oil fields in the Sunda Straits and South Sumatra waters, according to the Suara Pembaruan evening daily.

The paper quoted Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim as saying that the state company was interested in taking over the oil fields, and expected to be able to start price negotiation with YPF Maxus soon.

Baihaki declined to say how much price Pertamina want, but said that the US$800 million price offer made by Maxus was still considered as too high.

YPF Maxus had opened tender for the seven oil fields, and a consortium from South Korea won the bid, while Pertamina ranked third. But in a later development, Maxus and the South Korean bidder failed to reach agreement on the price. This prompts YPF Maxus to offer the fields again to Pertamina.(*)