Indonesia had expressed its desire to buy more crude oil from Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation announced on Wednesday.

According to the NNPC, the request was made by the Head of Economic Affairs of the Indonesian Embassy, Mr. Dwiyatna Widinugraha.

Widinugraha led a delegation from his country on a courtesy call on the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, at the oil firm’s headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking on the purpose of the visit, Widinugraha commended the NNPC for its support in crude oil supply, which had helped Indonesia to achieve energy sufficiency, adding that the country needed further assistance in the form of increased crude oil allocation.

He said Indonesia, with a population of more than 250 million people, needed about 1.6 million barrels of crude oil daily to meet its burgeoning energy needs as an emerging economy and would love to have a government-to-government arrangement with Nigeria in that regard.

Shedding more light on the mission, the Vice President of Pertamina, the Indonesian National Oil Company, Mr. Anizar Burlian, stated that members of the delegation were in Abuja to thank Nigeria for helping Indonesia to meet its local oil demand and to further explore better arrangements of buying the country’s very high grade crude oil.

“Over the years, we have bought huge amount of crude oil from Nigeria. We are extremely happy to buy more Nigerian crude oil, which is globally rated to be of very high grade and which is very suitable for our refineries,” Burlian was quoted as saying in a statement issued  by the NNPC’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu.

Burlian said members of the delegation were also interested in investment opportunities in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian oil industry.

Responding, the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, who was represented by Mr. Adokiye Tombomieye, said the corporation would continue to assist Indonesia in the area of crude oil supply, adding that the request for a government-to-government crude supply arrangement should be routed through the office of President Muhammadu Buhari.

On investment, the corporation advised the team to articulate its request in a proposal to enable the NNPC management review it and act accordingly.