Pertamina to up fuel supply; bids for majority stake in a SEA refinery

Pertamina, the Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta, is bidding for a majority stake in a Southeast Asian refinery, as part of its measures to increase domestic fuel supply and reduce costs.

According to Pertamina, the refinery has a processing capacity of 220,000 barrels of crude per day and can process a mix of sweet and sour crude. The firm hopes to acquire a 51% stake.

Under the proposal, Pertamina would begin receiving fuel from the refinery in early 2016.

Crude feedstock would be sourced via Pertamina International Exploration Production (PIEP); and a certain portion of the oil could be from the Middle East, Pertamina said, without disclosing as yet the country or site of the proposed refinery investment. Meanwhile, the company is also eyeing a refinery in Australia.

The firm plans to build three new refineries and upgrade four existing facilities in Indonesia, thus increasing increasing domestic capacity to 2.3 million barrels of crude per day from the current 1 million barrels; and increasing gasoline and diesel production to 1.795 million barrels per day from the current 537,000 barrels per day, by 2024.