Indonesia's Pertamina to acquire Petronas filling stations

Indonesian state oil and gas company PT Pertamina will buy nine Petronas filling stations (SPBU) in several locations in Indonesia operated by PT Petronas Niaga Indonesia, Indonesia's Antara reported.

PT PETRONAS Niaga Indonesia,a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian Petroleum Nasional (Petronas), operates retail stations as well as markets petroleum products to industrial and commercial customers, and manages a network of local lubricant distributors in Indonesia.

The director of oil and gas downstream business of Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Umi Asngadah, said here on Tuesday that the acquisition process was already in the final stage.

"Initially there are nine units that will be acquired by Pertamina. A total of 18 SPBUs are operated by Petronas across Indonesia," she said.

She said she has received a report from Pertamina with regard to its plan to increase its SPBUs following the acquisition.

Meanwhile, Pertamina's Director of Investment, Plans, and Risk Management, M Afdal Bahaudin, declined to explain in detail about the plan including total investment required for the acquisition.

The Petronas SPBUs, after the acquisition, would be made "company own company operate" stations, meaning they would be fully owned and operated by Pertamina.

According to Antara Petronas has decided to shut down its SPBUs due to the loss it has suffered from selling non-subsidised gasoline in the country.