Price not behind Medco deal fizzle: Pertamina

PT Pertamina’s bid to buy an indirect 55 percent stake in PT Medco Energy may have fizzled - but not because of money, according to the state oil and gas company’s top executive.

“I never said that the cancellation was due to price. We never discussed a price with them,” Pertamina  president director Karen Agustiawan said on Thursday as reported by kontan.co.id business news portal.

Pertamina dropped its plan to buy an indirect stake in Medco Energy on Wednesday after House legislators said the acquisition would benefit neither Pertamina nor the government’s plan to increase oil production.

Karen said that Pertamina would now aim at buying more oil and gas assets to boost production.

“We are aiming at 30 assets. However we will find out which assets are most feasible for us,” she said.

Karen previously said that Pertamina was eyeing a stake in oil and gas blocks in Algeria, Brazil, China, Ecuador, the Gulf of Mexico, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Venezuela and Vietnam.