PT Pertamina (Persero) will continue to develop six of its refinery projects even though sales of fuel oil (BBM) at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic was down dramatically. Because the construction of the refinery will increase the petrochemical business which will be the backbone of the company in the future.
Nicke Widyawati
Pertamina President Director Nicke Widyawati said, although fuel sales were down, the refinery construction was still promising to continue. One of them, the construction of refineries is needed to encourage national energy independence considering the current fuel imports still reach 40% of the total national needs.
In addition, by equipping the refinery with petrochemical facilities, the refinery project will sustain the company's business in the future. The reason is, when fossil energy needs to decrease, the petrochemical business is considered to be very good. For example, during a pandemic, the pharmaceutical business actually increased and petrochemical facilities could provide basic chemicals for this industry.
"Petrochemicals will become one of Pertamina's business pillars, so we will strengthen it," said Nicke Widyawati.
Nicke acknowledged that the refinery project could not be carried out aggressively during the Covid-19 pandemic given the limitations of mobilization. He said he would focus on completing the design and administrative affairs of the refinery project during this pandemic. Thus, construction can be accelerated after the pandemic is over.
"So it can be continued immediately after PSBB (large-scale social restrictions) ends, can immediately open up employment opportunities," he said.
For example, the construction of the Tuban Refinery in Gresik which is being implemented by the PSBB. He explained, the process of preparing the construction site had to be stopped temporarily. However, it continues to complete its administrative work.
"But as soon as [PSBB] opened, it immediately started operating. Our intention of the refinery continues to create jobs for the people there, "said Nicke.
Until the end of the first quarter, the progress of land clearing in Tuban refinery has reached 90.08% and restoration of 46.4%. The general design progress (GED) of this project still reached 6.22%.
At present, the implementation of the basic engineering design / BED and front end engineering design / FEED of the refinery project has also begun. For projects that have entered the construction phase such as the Balikpapan Refinery Project, he continues to work on.
"The Balikpapan refinery is still ongoing, but the HSSE is tighter so there is no Covid-19 deployment)," Nicke said.
Balikpapan refinery construction until the end of March reached 15.02% and is targeted to reach 40% until the end of the year.
"The Cilacap Refinery and Balongan Refinery projects also continue," Nicke added.
Pertamina targets the development of the Balongan and Cilacap Refineries to reach 10% each this year and will continue to accelerate according to the target stages of development. Discussions with Saudi Aramco as the company's partner in building the Cilacap Refinery continue.
As for the Balongan Refinery, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for the potential development of the Petrochemical Integrated Refinery Complex which is the third phase of the Balongan Refinery Project. Currently a feasibility study is being conducted with partners and is in the location and land acquisition.
For the first phase, the Balongan Refinery Project is still in the Dual FEED Competition (DFC) phase which is targeted to be completed this May. Next for the second phase, a feasibility study is currently being carried out as well as starting the Revamp Study Unit of the ARDHM.
Furthermore, the Plaju Refinery Project has now entered into the BED Licensor procurement and is starting the BED work. While the Dumai Refinery Project is in the stage of conducting a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) revisit tender.
Regarding the Bontang Refinery Project, the company had considered moving the location and is still under review. The company also continues to build new olefin production facilities at the PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) refinery where the company is a shareholder.
If all refinery projects are completed, Pertamina's crude oil processing capacity will increase to 2.15 million barrels per day (BPD) from 1 million BPD. Not only that, Pertamina's refineries can also process oil with sulfur content up to 2%. Then, the company's petrochemical production will increase to 12,000 kilo tons per year (kilotonnes per annum / KTPA) from 1,660 KTPA. While the company's fuel production will increase to 1.7 million BPD from 600 thousand BPD.
Investor Daily, Page-9, Thursday, May 14, 2020
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