Indonesian state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina is aiming to increase its participation rights in Algeria’s Menzel Lejmat North (MLN) oil block, Deal Street Asia reported.
The company is in negotiations to take over 35% stakes owned by Spanish energy company Repsol using its internal funds. Currently, Pertamina holds the remaining 65 percent shares. Pertamina also currently serves as operator for two other oil fields in Algeria, EMK and Ourhoud, with 16.9% and 3.7% stake, respectively, according to The Jakarta Post.
Pertamina’s Deputy CEO, Ahmad Bambang, said: “We have the money and are ready to expand. The cost of the acquisition is not yet listed in our capital expenditure for 2017. If the deal goes through, the capital expenditure will be larger.”
This comes as Pertamina has announced that it would arrange for financing of at least $5b to acquire new oil and gas fields in Iran and Russia next year. The company also said that it would maintain the import of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran, which may total up to 528,000 tons. It has planned to import up to 12 cargoes, each of which contains 44,000 tons of gas, in 2017.
