Cepu oil may be processed at ex-Humpuss refinery
Wednesday, June 27 2007 - 04:46 AM WIB
American energy firm ExxonMobil Corp may supply some of the oil that they will extract from their Cepu field to a nearby refinery formerly owned by the Humpuss group.
Vice chairman of oil and gas authority BPMIGAS Abdul Muin said an investor had voiced interest to acquire the refinery.
The refinery which has the capacity of 20,000 barrels has stopped operation since the state debt settlement agency IBRA took it over from the Humpuss Group as part of settlement of debts owed by the business group controlled by Hutomo Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former President Soeharto, to state banks.
According to Abdul, the facility is now being used by the ministry as training and education center.
Abdul said the investor planned to build a pipeline to supply crude from the Cepu field located in the border areas of
ExxonMobil, which owns the Cepu field in an equal partnership with state owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina, did not mind supplying crude from the field to the refinery but it said it would not hold responsible for any possible problems occurring at the refinery and pipeline, according to Abdul.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said he did mind the refinery being sold to an investor.
“However, whoever is going to buy the refinery, we want them to allow us to continue using the facility as training and education center,” he said. (Godang)