Pertamaina, Mitsui plan RCC units in central Java

Sept. 17, 2008
Indonesia's state-owned PT Pertamina and Mitsui & Co., following up on announcements made last year, are preparing plans to build a residual catalytic cracking plant at Cilacap in central Java.

Eric Watkins
Oil Diplomacy Editor

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17 -- Indonesia's state-owned PT Pertamina and Mitsui & Co., following up on announcements made last year, are preparing plans to build a residual catalytic cracking plant at Cilacap in central Java.

The 348,000 b/d Cilacap refinery, which was designed to produce mostly fuel oil to supply power plants in Indonesia, currently has two crude distillation units with capacities of 118,000 b/d and 230,000 b/d.

Construction of the $1.5 billion facility will enable the refinery to process 62,000 b/d of crude oil into liquefied petroleum gas, high octane gasoline, and lubricant.

Construction is expected to start by yearend, with completion expected by 2012, according to Krisna Damayanto, general manager of Pertamina marketing unit IV Cilacap. Damayanto said Pertamina will purchase the entire production of the joint venture company, which will be 80% held by Mitsui and 20% by Pertamina.

In late August, Pertamina announced plans to purchase 1-1.5 million bbl/month of crude oil from Libya to make up for declining domestic output, with deliveries to start in October under a 20-year contract. The crude will be processed at Cilicap and at two refineries at Balikpapan on the island of Borneo.

Earlier, Pertamina said it would raise its fuel imports by 60% for about a month to compensate for a drop in production at the Cilacap refinery due to an overhaul at the facility (OGJ, Aug. 4, 2008, Newsletter).

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].