RI eyes crude deal with PTT

RI eyes crude deal with PTT

BANGKOK (Reuters): Indonesia, hit by insufficient oil refining capacity, has asked Thailand to help it process its crude oil, the head of state-owned Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) said on Thursday.

"Indonesia wants to hire us to refine its crude," PTT governor Viset Choopiban told reporters, adding that Thailand had excess refining capacity of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd).

He gave no other details of the discussions with Indonesia.

Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina had a crude processing deal with Shell Singapore that ran from October until the end of March for up to 90,000 bpd.

Viset later told Reuters both sides were working on details of the deal and he did not know when they would be finalized.

"I can't say anything more because we are still talking on the details," Viset said by telephone.

Prommin Lertsuradej, secretary-general to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, told reporters talks about oil would be part of the agenda at a summit between Thaksin and Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid in Bangkok on May 14-15.