Mitsui to help build refinery in Indonesia

Mitsui & Co. plans to expand facilities at Indonesia’s largest refinery in cooperation with state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina. The partners will soon set up a joint venture and spend about US$1 billion to build a gasoline cracker at the Cilacap refinery on the island of Java. The Cilacap site can processs 340,000 barrels a day of crude oil, accounting for 30% of the country’s refining capacity. Pertamina also plans to boost capacity at its refineries in Balongan, West Java and Dumai, Riau Province. It is also inviting other major Japanese trading houses to participate in joint projects aimed at exporting gasoline to Japan and other Asian countries in the future. (January 6, 2007)