Market sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM that Indonesia’s state-owned energy company Pertamina and its Taiwanese counterpart CPC have entered into the final stage of talks on building a joint petrochemical complex in Balongan, West Java, Indonesia. According to an Indonesian media, this project is part of the country’s 245 national strategic plans that include the construction of refineries, gas distribution, toll roads, railroads, seaports, airports, and irrigation projects.
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese media reported that CPC had committed to spending $22 billion for the project. CPC has sought to relocate its naphtha operations to Indonesia after shutting a naphtha cracker in Kaohsiung in 2015. In 2018, both companies signed a $6.49 billion framework deal for the project.
As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, the project includes a naphtha cracker with a capacity of at least 1 million tons/year of ethylene and downstream units. The complex is expected to produce up to 6.6 million tons/year of petrochemical products by 2026. This output will ease Indonesia’s dependence on imported petrochemicals.
