Indonesia's crude oil prices climb

Indonesia's crude oil prices climb

TOKYO (Dow Jones): Unofficial prices for Indonesian crude
grades for January have all jumped from official December levels,
according to industry calculations released late last week.

For most grades, price rises ranged from 90 cents to US$1.37 a
barrel.

Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina has yet to
approve the calculations as official Indonesian Crude Price
figures. The company usually adopts the prices indicated by its
own formula several weeks after the unofficial prices are
calculated.

Sumatra Light Crude, or Minas, for January is unofficially set
at $10.99 a barrel, up $1.07 from its December ICP of $9.92. Duri
climbed to $10.27, up by $1.37 from $8.90 in December. Widuri is
at $10.40, up $1.17 from $9.23 in December.

Cinta is at $10.58 a barrel unofficially, up $1.11 from $9.47
in December. Arun C. for January is at $11.37, up 90 cents from
$10.47 in December.

The ICP is a retroactive price based on a 52-week average of
the Asian Petroleum Price Index for five basket crudes of
Indonesian, Middle East and Australian grades, plus a 52-week
average of the grade being priced. Also factored in are the one-
month average for the crude being priced and the monthly average
assessments by three industry publications - Platt's, RIM
Intelligence and Asian Petroleum Price Index - for each grade
being priced.

The formula consists of three equally weighted published
assessments from the APPI, Platt's and RIM.