Oil Price- Pertamina will submit proposals to Iran to explore two oil fields in the country that Indonesia’s state-held energy company has estimated at containing 1.5 billion barrels of oil reserves.

The oil fields are located in Ab Teymour and Mansouri, a statement by Indonesia’s Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister said on Monday, as carried by The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia’s Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution will be submitting the proposals during his current visit to Iran.

According to the Indonesian company, the output potential “reaches 200,000 barrel per day in each field.”

Earlier this month, Iran sent its first oil cargo to Indonesia following the end of the sanctions last year, Iranian media report. According to Tehran Times, Indonesia will be investing in Iran’s upstream oil sector, while Iran will invest in refining and the downstream sector of the Indonesian oil industry.

During his visit to Iran, Indonesia’s minister Darmin Nasution told his Iranian colleagues that Indonesia was mulling over buying crude oil from Iran via long-term supply agreements, Iran’s Press-TV reports. Indonesia has bought 1 million barrels of crude from Iran to see if it suits its refineries specifics. Should the tests be successful, Indonesia will soon proceed with signing a long-term supply deal with Iran.

At the beginning of this year, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) published a list of 29 companies that had qualified for bidding in Iran’s oil and gas tenders. Indonesia’s Pertamina was one of the qualified companies alongside European groups Shell, Eni, Total, and OMV, China’s Sinopec, CNPC, CNOOC, and CNPW, Malaysia’s Petronas, Japan’s INPEX Corporation, Itochu, Mitsui, and Mitsubishi, and Japan Petroleum Corporation, Russian Gazprom and Lukoil, Danish Maersk, Indian ONGC, and Polish PGNiG.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com