Indonesia, a South East Asia emerging economy, has indicated interest to purchase more crude oil from Nigeria. The Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit to the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Maikanti Baru.
He explained that his country’s President Joko Widodo, had instructed Indonesia National Oil Company, Pertamina, to direct its attention to Nigeria in its quest to meet that country’s surging energy needs.
The call by the ambassador signifies the prospects of soaring Nigeria’s market share in Asian emerging economies which include China and India, having lost grounds in crude oil sales in the United State of America due to advances in shale oil exploration in recent years.
Although Indonesia produces 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day, its supplements its 1.4million barrels per day consumption with 18 per cent supplies from Nigeria and 28 per cent from Saudi Arabia.
Speaking during the visit of the ambassador to his office, Dr. Baru, who welcomed the development, said NNPC was interested in working with Indonesia on its initiative to replace firewood and kerosene with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as primary domestic fuel for cooking.