RI raises LSWR exports

RI raises LSWR exports

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Indonesia has offered an additional 300,000 to 400,000 barrels of low sulfur waxy residue (LSWR) for export in October, industry sources said yesterday.

Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina had already allocated a total of 3.92 million barrels of LSWR in October.

With additional barrels this month, Indonesia's total LSWR exports will peak at 4.22-4.32 million barrels, the highest this year. Traders attributed the increase to the resumption of the 200,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Balikpapan refinery after its maintenance shutdown in September.

The shutdown of a visbreaker at Pertamina's Cilacap refinery on October 1 has also boosted Indonesia's LSWR exports, traders said. The 54,000-bpd visbreaker that processes LSWR into fuel oil was shut because of a leakage.

But the refinery manager told Reuters yesterday that the visbreaker resumed operations on Oct. 6.