Aramco, Chandra Asri plan to build naphtha plant

Saudi Arabian Amarican Oil Company (Aramco) and petrochemical firm PT Chandra Asri plan to jointly build a 300,000 barrel per day naphtha processing plant, with total investment of about US$1 billion, Investor daily reported Wednesday.

?Aramco is the only company that has seriously promised to supply crude oil (for the naptha plant). Other companies have given signals (their willingness to supply crude oil for the plant), but all of them are still in the phase of negotiations," Budi Susanto Sadiman, vice chairman of the Association of Indonesian Plastics and Olefins Industry, said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sofyan Wanandi, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Employers, said a foreign investor had voiced interest to build a refinery in Indonesia with a total investment of US$1 billion.

He however refused to unveil the investor's name.

"I can't tell you its name or its home country. Let's see next week when the memorandum of understanding (for the construction of the refinery) is signed. What is clear is that it is the biggest refinery company in its home country," Sofyan said. (*)