Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina is seeking new partners to increase the country's refining capacity in multibillion-dollar expansion projects after its previous partners including Saudi Aramco and Oman's Overseas Oil and Gas LLC withdrew from the project. The expansion is part of the Refinery Development Master Plan (RDMP) aimed to ease dependence on fuel imports which have been weighing on the country's trade balance.
On June 5, Ignatius "Lete" Tallulembang, an official with Pertmina who oversees the company's megaprojects shared updates on each refinery project, which is as follows:
Saudi Aramco sent a letter cancelling the 5-year partnership between the two companies on the Cilacap refinery. Pertamina said it had offered ADNOC for the partnership, and while waiting for ADNOC's response, Pertamina is moving forward with the development of a biofuel production facility within the Cilacap complex.
After Omani energy firm OOG pulled out of the development of the Bontang refinery in East Kalimantan, Pertamina put the project on hold until finding new partners. Pertamina has offered The UAE's Mubadala and ADNOC for the partnership.
The construction progress in the expansion of the Balikpapan refinery had reached 17 on May 24. This is the only project that has begun construction. Lete said that work would continue despites supply chain bottlenecks caused by the coronavirus-related lockdowns.
The first of three-phased expansion of the Balongan refinery is expected to come online in 2022. For the third phase, Pertamina has inked a deal with Taiwan's state-owned CPC. The contract covers an $8 billion petrochemical plant that includes a capacity to produce 1 million tons/year of ethylene. CPC and Pertamina will own a 45 stake in the project which is expected to start operation in 2026.
The expansion of Tuban refinery meets a problem related to land acquisition. On May 11, Pertamina acquired 328 hectares of land from the Environment and Forestry Ministry. It had also purchased 37% of 384 hectares of private land and planned to buy the remaining 63% by this year's Q3.
On May 22, the national oil company signed a non-binding MoU with PT Nindya Karya and a South Korean consortium to expand the Dumai refinery. Pertamina also holds talks with ConocoPhillips on building a methanol plant in the refinery.
Pertamina plans to develop the Plaju refinery to produce bio-based fuels. It will experiment to produce palm oil-based gasoline, diesel, and avtur in the refinery. However, its partnership with Italia's Eni to develop the Plaju refinery ended after complications regarding the EU's palm oil standards.
