A senior official of Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina said Tuesday it plans to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran to meet domestic demand.
The company’s Vice President of Crude Product Trading and Commercial of Integrated Supply Chain (ISC), Hasto Wibowo, said Pertamina is currently exploring opportunities to import LPG at bargain prices from several countries, including Iran, Kata Data reported on Tuesday.
“We’ll probably buy 2-3 cargoes in the second half of the year. The volume of each cargo is 44 thousand metric tons,” he said.
Wibowo added no fewer than 100 vendors have applied to supply oil to Pertamina, adding the selection process is expected to be completed soon.
“Iran and Libya are strong contenders,” he added.
Iran has been building up access to a growing fleet of very large gas carriers, enabling the country’s producers to export LPG to Asia.
The Islamic Republic, which holds the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves and the largest natural gas reserves, has been trying to enhance its gas production by attracting foreign and domestic investment. The country is also determined to become the biggest petrochemical producer in the Middle East.