Cilacap refinery production falls 17% due to plant overhaul

Fuel production of state owned company PT Pertamina?s Cilacap refinery has dropped by about 17 percent since the company began the overhaul works at the refinery?s Fuel Oil Complex I unit last week, Kompas reported Tuesday.

Daryono, the head of Pertamina?s Processing Unit IV which is in charge of the refinery operation, said in Cilacap on Monday that the overhaul which began on Aug. 7 would be completed within two weeks.

?The overhaul of the plant of the Fuel Oil Complex I which has a procesing capacity of 118,000 barrels per day (bpd) has been long scheduled, and the impact has therefore been anticipated,? he said.

The products from the plant include premium gasoline and kerosene.

According to him, as the Fuel Oil Complex I is now being overhauled, Pertamina maximizes the production activities of the refinery's Fuel Oil Complex II.

The Fuel Oil Complex II has the capacity to process 230,000 bpd.

Pertamina said earlier that it planned to raise fuel imports by about 60 percent in August to compensate for a drop in production of the 348,000 bpd Cilacap refinery in Central Java. (*)