"They came for a courtesy call but at the same time also offered crude."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan said Iran has offered crude to Indonesia at a price cheaper than those from other countries.
"They have offered cheaper crude upon conditions that the deal is done with no collusion," he said at his office here on Thursday.
He said the offer was made when Iranian ambassador Shahidi Moaddab, special envoy from Iran`s ministry of energy and officials from Iran`s oil company made a courtesy call on him recently.
"They came for a courtesy call but at the same time also offered crude," he said.
He said they made the offer because they thought Indonesia needs crude and the crude from Iran is better for the country`s refineries.
He said Iran has also seen Indonesia as a potential buyer because it has large crude terminals.
Dahlan however said that he was not in the position of responding the offer and therefore had referred them to Pertamina, the state-owned oil and gas company.
"I have asked them to directly come to PT Pertamina," he added.
Based on Pertamina`s data Indonesia in 2012 imports 98.21 million barrels of crude or around 300,000 barrels a day.
(Reporting by Royke Sinaga/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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