Pertamina to boost capacity 5%

In an attempt to reduce fuel imports, Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina plans to increase the capacity of its oil refineries by about 5% or about 53,000 barrels per day (BPD) next year from the current production level of about 1.06 million BPD. Pertamina’s Processing Director Suroso said that the increase in the plants’ capacity would enable the company to reduce the country’s fuel imports by 300,000 BPD. An increased processing capacity will not only result in a rise in fuel production but also other oil derivative products such as lubricants and aromatics, he said. Hanung Budya, deputy director of trading and marketing, said that the company plans to build 500,000 kiloliters of fuel storage in the next four years to cope with expected increases in the country’s fuel consumption. Pertamina will need another 300,000 kiloliters of additional storage capacity within the next three or four years, he said. (August 26, 2006)