Pertamina looks to Indian refiner to process crude oil

Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina hopes to seal a deal this year with an Indian refiner to process around one million barrels of Iraqi crude oil each month, its chief executive said.

"It is better if we purchase the crude and then utilise a refinery overseas," Pertamina Chief Executive Officer Dwi Soetjipto told reporters on Monday. "Why India? Because its geographic location is good," he said. Any crude shipments from Iraq would pass several Indian oil ports on the way to Indonesia.

Soetjipto declined to say which Indian refiner Pertamina was talking to on the oil processing deal.

Pertamina's monthly Iraqi oil shipments to the Indian refiner would consist of 290,000 barrels from a stake in the West Qurna block and another 700,000 barrels it would purchase from other Iraqi oilfields, he said. Pertamina has about one million barrels per day of domestic refining capacity, which meets only about two-thirds of Indonesia's daily oil consumption.