Indonesia eyeing long-term oil import from Iran

Indonesian Energy Minister Sudirman Said underlined that his country is keen to increase its long-term crude imports from Iran.

Jakarta is in talks with Tehran for a long-term oil supply deal to meet its rising demand for crude as the country is expanding its refineries," Sudirman said on Friday.

He reiterated that his country is waiting for the removal of the western sanctions imposed against Tehran.

In late May, Indonesian Economy Minister Sofyan Djalil voiced his country's willingness to boost import of Iranian crude supplies and Tehran's experience in building refineries.

"Indonesia is currently importing between 800,000 to 900,000 barrels of Iranian crude which can be increased," Djalil said in a meeting with Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi in Tehran.

The Indonesian economy minister pointed to the meeting of Iran-Indonesia Economic Cooperation Commission held on Saturday, and said, "During the commission meeting, we discussed building an oil refinery in Indonesia by utilizing Iran's energy capacities."

Vaezi, for his part, pointed to the status quo of Iran-Indonesia trade relations, and said, "We hope that the value of Iran-Indonesia trade balance will increase to over $2 billion."

In early May, Iranian Government Spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht announced the country's plans to boost exports of crude and engineering services to Indonesia.

"Based on the initial agreement, we are due to increase oil exports to Indonesia and build a refinery and a power plant in Indonesia," Nobakht told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on May 5.

He also underlined the necessity for boosting the level of trade exchanges with Jakarta, and said, "Indonesian officials were informed that Iran has skillful engineers and active companies in area of urban renovation, and thus asked their Iranian counterparts for joint renovation of their cities through partnership with the Iranian companies and engineers."

In relevant remarks in December, Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for International Affairs Mohsen Qamsari announced that Tehran and Jakarta were in talks over crude supplies to Indonesia.

"The two sides have had some initial talks for oil exports, but final negotiations have not yet started," Qamsari said.

He, meantime, said that there were still technical problems in the Indonesian refineries for receiving Iranian oil supplies.

Asked if Indonesia's oil imports from Iran do not violate the sanctions against Iran, Qamsari said, "Indonesia is among the countries which can receive oil from Iran under the current conditions and it has no problem with sanctions for receiving Iranian oil supplies."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani traveled to Indonesia late in April to participate in the Asian-African Conference (AAC).

During his stay he held meetings with the high-ranking officials of the AAC member states.