On The Neighbourhoods: Sonangol plans to start selling oil to Pertamina

Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol intends to start selling crude oil to Pertamina, its counterpart in Indonesia, from 2015, the company’s president, Francisco de Lemos Jose Maria said in Jakarta. Indonesia has failed to attract sufficient investment to seek to reverse the downward trend tin the country’s oil production, currently about half the peak of 1.6 million barrels recorded in 1995, although it needs five times more to meet the needs of its population and industry.

Angola, meanwhile, has a current production of 1.6 million barrels a day and plans to increase it in the short term to 2 million barrels.

Pertamina’s president, Muhammad Husen, said the company is examining the possibility of setting up a partnership in three distinct areas – downstream from the extraction, refining and marketing, adding “we are thinking of starting imports in early 2015.”

Francisco de Lemos José Maria said that if an agreement was reached shipments of oil may begin within two to three months and added that the two sides are discussing the possibility of building a refinery in Indonesia, with a capacity of between 200,000 and 300,000 barrels per day.

Meanwhile, the two state-owned companies signed a cooperation agreement Friday as part of a visit to Indonesia’s by Angola’s vice-president, Manuel Domingos Vicente.(by macauhub/AO)