Cilacap refinery upgraded

JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina has increased the capacity of its refinery in Cilacap, Central Java, to 348,000 barrels of oil per day from 300,000 barrels.

Refinery spokesman Husni Banser was quoted by Antara news service as saying on Friday in Cilacap that Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto was scheduled to inaugurate the completion of capacity improvement project next month.

With the completion of the project, the refinery has raised its lube output to 428,000 metric tons annually from 250,000 tons, asphalt output to 720,000 tons from 520,000 tons and bitumen to 80,000 tons.

The project, started in Dec. 1995, was completed in Nov. 1998, 3.5 months ahead of schedule. The project was carried out by the U.S. engineering, procurement and construction contractor Flour Daniels.

A consortium of 29 international banks led by Citicorp International Ltd provided the financing amounting to US$633 million, which will be repaid by Pertamina over 10 years with the proceeds from the sale of the refinery's output. (jsk)