Pertamina to acquire 32 tankers

The Indonesian state-owned oil company PT Pertamina plans to acquire 32 oil tankers totaling more than 800,000 DWT for domestic oil shipments. The company`s president director, Widya Purnama, said the procurement was made to support domestic fuel oil supply security and in view of the fact that “the company`s oil transportation fleet is ageing and needs refurbishment.”

He said Pertamina would procure the tankers under the bare boat hire purchase scheme. “Under the mechanism Pertamina will own the tankers after leasing them for around 10 years,” he said. Many foreign shipyards in China and South Korea had expressed interest in the procurement plan but Pertamina would give priority to local shipyards to build the vessels. The tankers are expected to be ready starting from 2008 to 2012. They include two 500 DWT LPG tankers, four 3,500 DWT, three 6,500 DWT tankers, 10 17,500 DWT, 10 30,000 DWT tankers and three Aframax tankers.