State-run energy giant Pertamina officially received a cargo of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran on Thursday, marking Iran’s first shipment as a new supplier of LPG to Indonesia.

Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto welcomed the 44,000 metric tons of LPG transported from Asaluyeh Port in Iran 13 days ago by its VLGC Pertamina Gas 2 vessel, at Kalbut Port in Situbondo, East Java.

According to him, the LPG shipment from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) would open up other business development opportunities between Pertamina and the NIOC, in both the upstream and downstream sectors.

"It marks a new chapter of cooperation between Pertamina and the NIOC and makes trade cooperation between Indonesia and Iran more significant," Dwi said in a statement on Thursday.

Earlier, the NIOC agreed to supply Pertamina with a total volume of 600,000 tons of LPG for 2016 and 2017.

Following the arrival of the first cargo, the NIOC will immediately send the next cargo, which is expected to arrive on Nov. 20.

In addition to the LPG purchase, the two state-run companies signed an agreement to conduct a preliminary study of two giant oil fields in Iran, namely Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, which have an oil reserve of more than five billion barrels.

(Source: The Jakarta Post)