Pipeline starts transporting fuel from Cirebon to Jakarta
Pipeline starts transporting fuel from Cirebon to Jakarta
CIREBON, West Java (JP): PT Trihasra Bimanusa Tunggal, a company controlled by President Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, yesterday started operating a 221-kilometer fuel-pipeline from a refinery here to a depot in Jakarta.
The start of the US$79.67 million pipeline was marked by a ceremony at the newly built refinery at Balongan, which was attended by Minister of Mines and Energy Ida Bagus Sudjana, the president of state-oil company Pertamina Faisal Abda'oe, Director General of Oil and Gas Suyitno Patmosukismo and Trihasra's president, Hardiyanti.
Trihasra Bina Tunggal is 35 percent owned by Hardiyanti's PT Trihasra Utama Tunggal, 35 percent by PT Bimantara Citra, a company controlled by her brother Bambang Trihatmodjo, and 30 percent by PT Tranaco.
"The pipeline with a capacity to carry 5.1 million kiloliters of fuel per year will help make the transportation of fuel to Jakarta and its surroundings easier, where fuel demand is estimated at 21,000 kiloliters per day," the minister said.
He said the breakdown of the pipeline's estimated daily flow is 7,000 kiloliters of fuel oil, 6,500 kiloliters of kerosene and 7,500 kiloliters of diesel oil from Pertamina's first export- oriented refinery (Exor I) in Balonmgan to Plumpang in North Jakarta.
The Jakarta area used to be supplied by fuel from Pertamina's refineries in Musi, South Sumatra, in Cilacap, Central Java, in Dumai, Riau and in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
Hardiyanti, popularly called Mbak Tutut, said her company plans to increase the pipeline's transportation capacity to seven million kiloliters per year in the future.
"The pipeline is our pilot project in the fuel distribution business, most of which has been engineered and designed by domestic experts," she said, adding that her company involved 12 local contractors for the supply of equipment and 15 sub- contractors for civil works.
She said the project was built under a build-and-transfer agreement established between her company and Pertamina in December 1992.
Expansion
"We hope that our company will able to get involved in the expansion of the pipeline by a total length of 320 kilometers in West and Central Java," Hardiyanti said.
The expansion will include a 120-kilometer pipeline from Balongan to Malangbong near Tasikmalaya, a 60-kilometer pipeline from Sukabumi to Padalarang and another 40-kilometer pipeline from Rewulu near Yogyakarta to Semarang.
The Balongan refinery, which is expected to be inaugurated by President Soeharto this year, has been designed to process 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy crude from the Duri oil field and 25,000 bpd of light crude from the Minas oil field. Both the oil fields are operated by PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia in Riau.
The refinery produces 136,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and 186,000 tons of propylene a year and 54,500 bpd of aviation gas, 10,400 bpd of kerosene, 24,500 bpd of automotive diesel oil (ADO), 14,800 bpd of industrial diesel oil (IDO) and 7,200 bpd of fuel as well as 21.7 metric tons of sulfur per day. (fhp)