PT Pertamina (Persero) through PT Refinery Pertamina Internasional (KPI), managed to get a contract to import crude oil directly from the Nigerian national oil and gas company, namely the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). This direct contract makes the cost of procuring crude oil more efficient.
In general, Nigerian crude oil is marketed in the international market by the International Oil Company (IOC) which has Participating Interest (PI) in the oil and gas blocks in the country, such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Total, and BP. The direct agreement between Pertamina and NNPC makes the procurement process more efficient.
"Of course, getting a direct contract will be more efficient which is in line with the refinery feedstock optimization plan in the future," said KPI's Director of Feedstock & Product Optimization Yoki Firnandi.
The crude oil import contract with NNPC is valid from this year until 2023. The entire supply of oil is to meet the feedstock needs of Pertamina's refineries. Previously, for the 2017-2020 period, oil imports from Nigeria reached 30% of the company's total imports. This Nigerian oil belongs to the sweet crude category which is following Pertamina's refinery specifications.
"Nigeria is Pertamina's second-largest source of crude oil imports, after Arabian Light Crude supply to the Cilacap Refinery from Saudi Arabia's NOC (national oil company/national oil company), Aramco," said Pertamina's Vice President of Feedstock & Inventory Management, Sani Dinar Saifuddin.
To get the supply of Nigerian crude oil, Pertamina must compete with 500 companies that register. The direct contract with NNPC is Pertamina's first achievement. Pertamina International Marketing & Distribution Pte Ltd (PIMD) under PT Pertamina Patra Niaga as Subholding Commercial Marketing also supported KPI in getting the contract.
Later, the transportation of crude oil from Nigeria will be carried out by PT Pertamina International Shipping (PIS). Moreover, PIS has completed the procurement of two very large crude carriers (VLCC), namely the Pertamina Prime and Pertamina Pride tankers.
Previously, Pertamina President Director Nicke Widyawati said that after forming the sub-holding, subsidiaries were given the freedom to formulate types of crude oil that could produce good quality and better yields of valuable products. So, her party decided to use imported crude oil more.
Referring to Pertamina's data, imports of crude oil this year will reach 118.4 million barrels, up 39.7 million barrels or 50.44% from last year's imports of only 78.7 million barrels. Crude oil imports in 2021 are also much higher than imports in 2019 which amounted to 86.9 million barrels.
This strategy can also reduce the trade balance deficit. This is because the price of imports is lower than the price of Indonesia's oil exports. The average purchase of crude oil imports this year is US$ 57.8 per barrel, while Indonesia's average oil exports reach US$ 59.8 per barrel. She estimates that there will still be a surplus of US$ 75 million.
Investor Daily, Page-10, Tuesday, July 13, 2021
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