Iran will announce a total of $600 million in investment in Indonesia's gas and oil sector during next month's state visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said Friday.

"Iran wants to invest $200 million to fix offshore refinery platforms in Indonesia and also to invest $400 million in building a gas pipeline from South Sumatra to Batam," foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said at a regular press briefing. Thamrin didn't provide any additional details about the pending investment. Ahmadinejad will visit Indonesia to attend the fifth conference of the group of eight predominantly Muslim countries, also known as the D-8. The meeting of the D-8, which includes Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Nigeria, is scheduled for May 9 to 13 on Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali. D-8 delegates are expected to discuss issues including the ongoing international crisis over Iran's nuclear program. The $600 million from Iran will provide Indonesia's investment-starved gas and oil sector a greatly needed cash injection.

Foreign investors have fled the sector in recent years due to perceptions of rampant corruption, poor infrastructure, and judicial unpredictability. That dwindling investment caused Indonesia, the sole Southeast Asian member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, to be a net oil importer in 2005.

Analysts say last month's resolution of the multiyear dispute between Exxon Mobil Corp. and Pertamina to tap the massive East Java Cepu oil field was an important symbolic victory in government efforts to lure back foreign investors.

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