An Indonesian senior official said on Monday that national oil company (NOC) of Pertamina would get a rights to take part in the exploration of some Iranian oil blocs through an MoU scheduled to be signed in the near future, manifesting Indonesia's multi-billion U.S. Dollars business deals with several countries in the Middle East which had been approved before.

Oil and Gas Director General at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry I Gusti Nyoman Witamadja said that the deal between Pertamina and its Iranian counterparts was following the Government to Government (G to G) agreements previously signed by officials of both nations.

"The G to G agreement has been settled, now it's the time for the following processes which would be carried out by firms of both countries through Business to Businesses agreement, scheduled before the upcoming Eid Fitri festivities," Wiratmadja said in his office, referring to the MoU scheduled for the signing by Pertamina and the Iranian counterparts.

Wiratmadja, however, did not go into details on either the Iranian oil blocs where Pertamina would partake to explore them or the energy deposit contained in the oil blocs. He said that further details would be revealed by Pertamina later.

The cooperation involving Pertamina in the exploration of Iranian oil blocs was part of Indonesia's business deals with Middle East countries worth 12.2 billion U.S. Dollars whose Head of Agreements (HoA) had already been signed earlier, he added.

Indonesian ESDM Minister Sudirman Said who was at presence added that part of the multi billion U.S. Dollars business deals with Middle East countries were the deals between Pertamina and Iranian counterparts on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), crude oil supply and the access for Indonesian NOC to explore Iranian oil blocs.

The minister added that the most imminent cooperation with Iran was import on crude oil from Iran and the possibility for Iran to open oil refinery in Indonesia's city of Situbondo in East Java province.

"Pertamina has identified that crude oil from Iran fit for its needs. Iran has pledged to guarantee its crude oil supply to Indonesia over the option to run an oil refinery in Situbondo," the minister said.

Previously Pertamina and its Iranian counterpart had signed an agreement on the purchase of 600 thousand metric tons of LPG whose initial delivery was scheduled in the fourth quarter this year. Endit

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