Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina said it expects to receive on September 26 the first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from its Iranian counterpart the National Iranian Oil Company.
“We have signed the agreement and the first LPG shipment from Iran to Indonesia is scheduled for September 26 to 27,” Pertamina Senior Vice President Integrated Supply Chain Daniel Purba said at Pertamina Headquarters in Jakarta, Antara News Agency reported.
Daniel said Pertamina needs LPG supply from Iran to meet high demand for the commodity. The two sides signed an agreement in August that covers LPG sales for 2016 and 2017.
According to reports, Pertamina has not seen significant fluctuations in LPG imports in the past few months, which stand at around 350 million tons from July to September. It will jump to 396 million tons after the import from Iran. NIOC and Pertamina have also signed a nondisclosure agreement that allows the Indonesian firm to conduct studies on two Iranian oilfields.
NIOC chief executive Ali Kardor and Pertamina's CEO Dwi Soetjipto signed the agreement in Tehran. Under the agreement, Pertamina is expected to survey the onshore Abteymour and Mansouri oilfields in six months.
The agreement is the first step of cooperation between the state-run oil companies of Iran and Indonesia in the upstream oil industry, according to Kardor.
