1,400 tons of CPO from Deli Tama tanks to be tendered

JAKARTA (JP): PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia has announced it will soon tender 1,400 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) with a hydrocarbon content of between 54 ppm (parts per million) and 221 ppm currently kept at Deli Tama Indonesia storage tanks.

The Deli Tama Indonesia storage tanks at the North Sumatra port of Belawan were the source of 85,000 metric tons of diesel oil-contaminated CPO which was rejected in Rotterdam in October and November and triggered an almost total ban on Indonesian CPO in Europe.

A copy of the tender notice, which was obtained by The Jakarta Post on Monday, showed that London Sumatra kept the CPO stocks at three Deli Tama Indonesia tanks, at No's 8, 10 and 61.

Traders and cooking oil companies in Medan were surprised by the tender notice because to their knowledge Deli Tama Indonesia tanks were still being cleaned up and CPO from those tanks had temporarily been prohibited from being sold domestically or overseas.

PP London Sumatra itself admitted in the notice that laboratory tests at Technichem in Singapore concluded that 523 tons of the CPO to be sold had a 54 ppm (parts per million) hydrocarbon content, 221 tons with 221 ppm and 710 tons with 65 ppm.

A trader in Medan confirmed that London Sumatra planned to soon tender another 6,000 tons of CPO, also from the Deli Tama Indonesia storage tanks.

Deli Tama Indonesia's director Megananda Daryono confirmed at a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission V for trade and industry in Jakarta last week that his company's storage tanks were the main source of the contaminated CPO which was held up at the Rotterdam port.

Megananda added, however, that the tanks were being cleaned up and a certification of cleanliness would be sought from PT Sucofindo surveyor company before they would be used again to hold CPO.

Angered by the government's virtual inaction in handling the CPO debacle caused by the contamination at Deli Tama Indonesia tanks, the House Commission V decided last week to form its own fact-finding team to investigate how such a large volume of CPO could have been contaminated with diesel oil.

The Deli Tama Indonesia tanks, owned by the state-owned PTPN III plantation company, are the largest storage facilities at Belawan with a total capacity of about 115,000 tons.