Government sets deadline for mending refinery<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government has set a six-week deadline for
\ncontractors to repair a newly completed export-oriented oil
\nrefinery in Balongan of West Java, of which technical troubles
\nhave delayed its dedication.<\/p>\n
\"I have instructed the state oil company Pertamina's
\ncontractors responsible for the construction of the country's
\nfirst export-oriented refinery (Exor 1) to cope with damages at
\nthe refinery and to assure its full operation by the middle of
\nMarch,\" Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The refinery, designed to have a processing capacity of
\n125,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was originally scheduled to
\nbe dedicated by President Soeharto on Monday. But damages
\noccurring during its trial operation caused the delay of its
\ndedication.<\/p>\n
Sudjana, who met with the President at the Merdeka Palace
\nyesterday to report on the condition of the refinery as well as
\nhis recent visits to Arabian countries, told reporters that the
\ndamages have forced the refinery to operate only at 60 percent of
\nits capacity.<\/p>\n
\"The President has also agreed on the delay of the plant's
\noperation and instructed Pertamina and its contractors to prepare
\nas many as operators for the sophisticated project,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Contractors<\/p>\n
Pertamina appointed JGC Corporation of Japan, Foster Wheeler
\nof the United States, Mitsui of Japan and Far East Oil Trading
\nCorp., an affiliate of Pertamina, as its contractors for the
\nconstruction of the refinery. The construction of the refinery
\nstarted in September 1990.<\/p>\n
Pertamina recently said that the US$2 billion refinery was
\nconstructed with financial assistance from Java Petroleum
\nInvestment Co. Ltd. -- a consortium grouping Mitsui Corp.,
\nMarubeni Corp., Sumitomo, C. Itoh & Co. (now Itochu) and 20
\nJapanese bankers.<\/p>\n
Sudjana did not elaborate on the damages. Pertamina recently
\nreported that the trouble was partly caused by bottlenecks at a
\ncrude oil processing unit, called Residue Catalytic Cracking
\nmachinery, which processes crude oil with a high level of metal
\nand residue contents.<\/p>\n
Sudjana refused to estimate the losses caused by the delay of
\nthe refinery's full operation, but said: \"We've surely missed an
\nopportunity to export oil products due to the delay of its full
\noperation.\"<\/p>\n
The refinery is designed to produce 136,000 tons of liquefied
\npetroleum gas per year and 186,000 tons of propylene a year,
\n54,500 barrels per day (bpd) of aviation gas, 10,437 bpd of
\nkerosene, 24,500 bpd of automotive diesel oil, 14,890 bpd of
\nindustrial diesel oil and 7,200 bpd of decant fuel as well as 27
\nmetric tons of sulfur per day.<\/p>\n
Pertamina is now operating five oil refineries with a total
\nprocessing capacity of about 850,000 bpd.(fhp)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-sets-deadline-for-mending-refinery-1447893297",
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