Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 23 – PT Pertamina and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., citing disagreements over the business model, have decided to end a joint-venture project aimed at upgrading the 340,000 b/d refinery in Cilacap, Central Java.
The initial agreement called for addition of a 60,000-b/d resid FCCU. Pertamina indicated it would proceed with the project on its own according to the original schedule. Pertamina Pres. Karen Agustiawan said the FCCU is expected to be online by 2013.
Pertamina has been unsuccessful in its effort to gain a majority stake in PT Pertamit Processing, the joint venture it created with Mitsui in March 2008 (OGJ Online, Apr. 30, 2009). Mitsui held an 80% stake in the joint venture, Pertamina 20%.
A Pertamina spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the split, saying only that the companies had failed to agree on several key issues in the project’s business plan.
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