Jakarta. State-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina is planning to make an investment worth $900 million in Algeria over the next decades, according to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

The minister has just concluded a bilateral meeting with her Algerian counterpart Ahmed Attaf in Algiers. Indonesia’s huge investment in the Algerian energy sector became a key theme during the talks, as Pertamina had long been investing in the North African nation. 

“We welcomed another plan of investment from Pertamina of $900 million until 2048 in the Algerian energy sector,” Retno said in a press statement on Wednesday.

“Pertamina is ready to continue expanding their investment in Algeria, including in new areas such as refinery and decarbonization,” Retno said.

Indonesia does not want the economic ties with Algeria to be limited to the petroleum sector. Retno added: “We hope to broaden our economic cooperation beyond the petroleum sector through various joint projects in electricity, mining, renewable energy, and Minister Attaf also mentioned agriculture, fisheries, and other sectors.”

The bilateral meeting also saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on energy and mining cooperation. According to Retno, the MoU is expected to strengthen government-to-government (G2G) and business-to-business (B2B) cooperation in the said sectors.

However, Retno did not go into more details on Pertamina’s additional investment in Algeria. 

Pertamina Internasional EP (PIEP) is part of the oil giant’s upstream subholding and is in charge of handling the working areas overseas. PIEP is operating the working areas in Algeria via the Pertamina Algeria EP (PAEP). Since May 2014, PAEP has been fully operating the Menzel Ledjmet Nord (MLN) oil field of which Pertamina has a 65-percent controlling interest.

PIEP announced in June that it had secured a new hydrocarbon contract for the MLN in Block 405a. Pertamina, along with the Algerian state-owned oil company Sonatrach and Repsol Exploracion 405a SA, a unit of Spanish energy firm Repsol, will operate an onshore oil and gas block under this production sharing contract. 

The contract includes the MLN field and 9 other fields, including the unitization of Ourhoud and El Merk oil fields.

The work program encompasses the drilling of 12 oil wells and a water injection well, to name a few. It also includes the connection of new development wells, the construction of an LPG extraction unit and 3D seismic acquisition, a water alternating gas (WAG) project, as well as a solar energy project. The total investment is estimated at over $800 million. The project is expected to recover approximately 150 million barrels of oil equivalent.

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