Indonesia may tender to sell crude oil

JAKARTA, April 30 (Reuters) - Indonesia may tender to sell crude oil that is piling up in storage in many production areas either because of bad weather or lack of tankers, energy watchdog officials said on Wednesday.

BPMIGAS marketing chief Budi Indianto told Reuters the total amount was estimated at around 13 million barrels and was spread across various locations in the sprawling archipelago.

"We are now looking at ways to sell it and maybe we will sell through tenders," Indianto said.

The crude oil will be tendered in the export market because it cannot be processed by domestic refiners. The official did not elaborate on the specifications of the crude.

Indonesia, Asia-Pacific's only OPEC member, has turned into a net importer of crude oil in recent years after production slumped as the country failed to tap new fields fast enough to offset its ageing reservoirs.

Separately, BPMIGAS deputy chief Dodi Hidayat said some of crude oil was located in a Chevron (CVX.N) operation in Sumatra island, and some is state-oil firm Pertamina storage on Java island.

"This is not strategic pile. It is just crude that has not been lifted because of several reasons, including bad weather and problems with finding tanker," Hidayat said.

Indonesia produced 859,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in April, unchanged from March. (Reporting by Muklis Ali, Editing by Sugita Katyal and Ovais Subhani)