Uche Usim, Abuja
The Indonesian government has sought the cooperation of its Nigerian counterpart to increase the quantity of crude it buys from Nigeria.
The request was made by the Head of Economic Affairs of the Indonesian Embassy, Mr. Dwiyatna Widinugraha, who led a delegation from the country on a courtesy call on the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Baru Maikanti, on Wednesday ,at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.
Widinugraha, in his remarks, commended NNPC for its support in crude oil supply which, he said, had helped Indonesia to achieve energy sufficiency, adding that the country needed further assistance in the form of increased crude oil allocation.
He said Indonesia, with a population of more than 250 million people, needed about 1.6 million barrels of crude oil daily to meet its growing energy needs as an emerging economy and thus would like to have a bilateral oil trading arrangement with Nigeria in that regard.
Also speaking on the visit, the Vice President of Pertamina, the Indonesian National Oil Company, Mr. Anizar Burlian, said they were in Abuja to thank Nigeria for helping them meet their local oil demands and to further explore better arrangements of buying the country’s very high grade crude oil.
“Over the years, we have bought huge amount of crude oil from Nigeria. We are extremely happy to buy more Nigerian crude oil which is globally rated to be of very high grade and which is very suitable for our refineries,” Burlian stated.
He said they were also interested in investment opportunities in the Nigerian upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian oil industry.
Responding on behalf of the corporation, the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD), Mr. Mele Kyari, who was represented by Mr. Adokiye Tombomieye, said NNPC would continue to assist Indonesia in the area of crude oil supply, adding that the request for a government-to-government crude supply arrangement should be routed through the President of Nigeria.
On investment, the corporation advised the team to articulate its request in a proposal to enable Management review and act accordingly.