Indonesia to build at least 2 new refineries by 2018

The Indonesian government expects state-owned PT Pertamina to build at least two new refineries in 2018, with a combined capacity of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), Oil and Gas Director General at the Energy and Mines Ministry Evita Legowo said at a Gasex Conference in Bali. The projects will be located in East Kalimantan and at Tuban in East Java, and each is expected to have a crude refining capacity of 300,000 bpd, Legowo said, adding that another government-owned refinery in South Sumatra is estimated to be on stream in 2019. A new refinery with a petrochemical complex is also planned in Sumatra to meet the country’s growing need for refined products. The new plant, which required an investment of Rs90 trillion (US$9.3 billion), will have a capacity of 300,000 bpd.
The current production of 1.05 million bpd of the seven Pertamina-owned refineries is not sufficient to meet the country’s 1.3 million bpd demand. The company currently imports oil products to make up for the deficit. The last major refinery built in Indonesia is in Balongan, West Java in 1994, with a capacity of 125,000 bpd. Local private companies have built only two small refineries: Bojonegoro in East Java with a capacity of 6,000 bpd and the 800 bpd Muba refinery in Musi Banyuasin in South Sumatra. (October 10, 2012)