Pertamina shipping unit to spend $4b on upgrades

JAKARTA, June 25 (Reuters): Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina's new unit, Pertamina International Shipping (PIS), is looking to spend $4 billion in the next seven years to refurbish its fleet of vessels and upgrade terminals, a top official said on Friday.

The new unit plans to replace 23 vessels and expand its fleet, to ensure compliance with the latest International Maritime Organisation standards and eventually serve other regional companies, said its director of business planning, Wisnu Medan Santoso.

"There are many oil and gas players in ASEAN who do not have their own shipping arm, we see this as an opportunity," Wisnu told Reuters, referring to countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"We have a large captive cargo, we have a large economy of scale. We can utilise that to capture opportunities in ASEAN," he said.