Pertamina to finish Cilalap ahead of schedule

Pertamina is targeting the completion of the Cilalap oil refinery upgrade project one year ahead of schedule, the company’s CEO said on Thursday.

“Initially, the target was to complete it in 2022. But based on our latest meeting, the [Saudi] Aramco CEO [Amin H. Nasser] challenged our team to complete it in 2021,” Dwi Soetjipto said.

Thursday also marked the signing of the Joint Venture Development Agreement (JVDA) between the two companies that will see Pertamina assume a 55% share of the venture, with Saudi Aramco holding the remaining 45%.

“Through an outlay of significant capital investments and the reliable supply of competitive feedstock, today’s agreement with Pertamina enables Saudi Aramco to potentially play a bigger role in meeting the rising energy needs of one of the world’s fastest developing economies,” Nasser said of the deal. The Saudi Aramco-Pertamina joint venture will reportedly invest around USD 5 billion in the Cilacap refinery upgrade project, located along the southern coast of Central Java.

The Cilacap refinery has a design capacity of 348,000 bpd, making it the largest facility of its kind in Indonesia. In Thursday’s press release, Saudi Aramco said capacity would be increased to 400,000 bpd. Earlier in the year, project management contractor Foster Wheeler said the upgrade project will raise capacity to 370,000 bpd.