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.