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Iran, Indonesia negotiating over oil trade

Business Materials 15 December 2014 13:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 15

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Tehran and Jakarta are negotiating over Iran's crude exports to Indonesia, Mohsen Ghamsari, director for International Affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company said, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported Dec. 15.

Ghamsari said that the sides have not yet achieved a final agreement on the issue, adding the problems are technical. It needs to be studied whether or not the Indonesian refineries are capable of refining Iran's crude oil.

Ghamsari added that Indonesia will not face any problem due to international sanctions against Iran if it decides to import crude oil from the Islamic Republic.

Earlier Indonesian media outlets quoted Sudirman Said, minister of energy and mineral resources as saying "the Indonesian government is planning to increase oil imports through direct purchase from producers and Iran is one of the options for this purpose".

Previously Naryanto Wagimin, acting director general for oil and gas at Indonesia's ministry of energy, said Iran plans to build oil refineries and supply crude oil to Indonesia.

In April, Hassan Khosrojerdi, head of Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters Union said the Islamic Republic plans to construct six oil refineries in Indonesia.

He said that Iran would build a heavy oil refinery there with the daily production capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude as well as five smaller refineries with daily production capacities of 30,000 to 50,000 barrels of condensates.

Late in January, Iranian and Indonesian officials, in a meeting in Jakarta, underlined the need for further expansion of mutual energy cooperation.

The export of Iran's crude oil to Indonesia and Iran's investment in refinery construction were among the topics discussed between the Iranian and Indonesian officials.

In recent years, the former member of OPEC-Indonesia has seen its crude oil consumption grow and reach around 1.6 million barrel per day (bpd), while its national output stands below 800,000 bpd.

Umid Niayesh is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh

Edited by CN

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