Sonatrach, Pertamina Ink MOU
Algerian state Sonatrach signed a memo of understanding with its Indonesian counterpart Pertamina on September 28, building on an earlier 2012 one.
Pertamina CEO Dwi Soetjipto said the signing in Algiers will forge the basis for the two companies’ cooperation to grow not only in Algeria but also to seek new opportunities elsewhere in the world.
Indonesian state-owned Pertamina acquired ConocoPhillips’ Algeria assets in 2013 for $1.75bn. That means Pertamina now has net production of 41,130 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Algeria, making it the company's 2nd largest producing country outside Indonesia, after Iraq with 43,700 boe/d.
Under the new MOU, both companies will analyse and evaluate exploration opportunities both in Algeria, Indonesia and elsewhere, and each will have the opportunity to participate in upstream, downstream and oil service sector projects in both countries, said a statement from Pertamina. Other partnerships are also being explored, including cooperation in the LNG sector, and in oil and gas market optimisation.
Sonatrach and Pertamina were once leading LNG exporters. By 2015 their significance had declined as joint ventures in Australia, Malaysia and Nigeria expanded LNG sales, with the US expected to become 3rd-ranked exporter by 2020. Indonesia even imported small quantities of LNG for the first time last year. However a decision this July to invest in a third LNG export train at Tangguh should increase Indonesian LNG exports in the medium-term.
The 15th International Energy Forum has been taking place in Algiers this week, enabling Sonatrach CEO Amine Mazouzi and minister Noureddine Bouterfa to meet visiting dignitaries. State news agency APS said the latter met his Sudanese and Mauritanian counterparts September 28, while Dutch economy minister Henk Kamp and UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazroui had separate meetings with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal on September 27. Saudi deputy oil minister Prince Salman, Iran's oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and Tunisian energy minister Hela Cheikhrouhou also met Sellal separately the next day.
But the real talks in Algiers this week aimed to secure an informal agreement among Opec producers, ahead of their formal Vienna meeting November 30, to restrain production in order to bolster oil prices -- with Iran apparently rejecting a Saudi offer to cut production if Iran froze its output level.
Mark Smedley