Pertamina in talks with Petronas for Malaysian crude processing deal

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and a consortium led by Japan's JXTG Holdings Inc are among the companies interested in buying a stake in India's Bina oil refinery, a source close to the matter said.

Pertamina said on Thursday it plans to process its share of Malaysian and Iraqi crude oil production at Petronas' refineries in Malaysia in return for gasoline as Indonesia strives to reduce oil imports

"We're approaching (Petronas) on whether we can utilize Petronas refinery to process our crude (produced) from Malaysia's fields," Heru Setiawan, director of investment planning and risk management at Pertamina told reporters

"We can also bring our crude from Iraq field to Petronas' refinery," he said

The two companies agreed earlier this week to a crude swap deal

Separately, Dharmawan Samsu, Pertamina's upstream director, said the company is also looking at increasing its stakes in Malaysia's oil and gas fields

The companies are also exploring further cooperation in the oil and gas exploration sector in the Middle East and Africa as both companies have assets in countries such as Gabon and Iraq, the officials said - Reuters