Indonesia’s national energy company Pertamina is considering upstream investments in Guyana and Suriname to diversify Indonesia’s oil and gas supply and boost energy security, the Indonesian government has said.
“Pertamina has already initiated exploratory discussions on cooperation in exploration and investment in the upstream oil and gas sectors of Guyana and Suriname,” Grata Endah Werdaningtyas, Director General for American and European Affairs at Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, said at a news conference.
The potential acquisition of minority equity stakes in upstream projects in Guyana and Suriname, which are poised to become South America’s oil growth drivers, would reduce reliance on imports from the Middle East, according to the Indonesian government.
“Investment implies that we hold an ownership stake in the source, thereby making supplies from that region more secure for us,” the foreign ministry official said, as quoted by the Indonesian news agency Antara.
Indonesia is an oil and gas producer, but its domestic output is insufficient to meet growing oil and gas demand.
The country currently produces about 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), but its consumption is far above that, at around 1.6 million bpd.
A lot of Indonesia’s imports of crude oil have typically come from the Middle East. But the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz disruption forced the biggest economy in Southeast Asia to look for alternative supply, including from Russia.
This summer, Indonesia welcomed the first cargo of Russian crude oil under a deal Southeast Asia’s biggest economy struck with Moscow in April.
In South America, Guyana’s oil production has been booming in recent years with an Exxon-led consortium already producing 900,000 bpd of crude oil from the offshore Stabroek block.
Suriname, which shares offshore geological properties with its neighbor to the west, Guyana, aims to become the new big oil and gas producer in South America by the end of the decade.
Several offshore blocks are being explored and developed by consortia led by international firms with Staatsolie’s participation, including Block 58, where TotalEnergies is developing a $10.5-billion oil project, GranMorgu, with first oil expected in 2028.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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