Carriers transporting crude from Kuwait to Indonesia operating normally: Pertamina

Tankers carrying crude from Kuwait for Indonesia?s Cilacap and Balongan refineries were operating normally, a senior official of state oil and gas firm Pertamina told Petromindo.Com Monday.

?The carriers are transporting crude from Kuwait normally. There is no disruption,? said Ibrahim Hashim, Pertamina?s deputy director of transportation.

Very large crude carriers (VLCCs), each having capacity of 1.8 million barrels of oil, transport crude from Kuwait to Indonesia, Ibrahim said.

Pertamina brings in Arabian light crude from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for Balongan and Cilacap refinery in Central Java, which is the country?s largest crude distilling facility. Crude from those countries fit technology of the refineries.

Balongan has capacity to process 125,000 barrels per day (BPD) of crude, while Cilacap, which has 2 crude distillation units, can process 348,000 BPD of crude.

The two are among the nine refineries in operation in Indonesia, which are all state-owned and operated by Pertamina.

Ibrahim said further that Pertamina might import crude from Algeria if the Iraqi war disrupted crude transportation from Kuwait. (godang)