CPC still assessing Indonesian refinery project

Taiwan?s CPC Corp is still reviewing a plan to set up a refinery in Indonesia, but expects the Indonesian government to offer better incentives, a company official said yesterday.

?We are still assessing various investment conditions in Indonesia, but we need to negotiate with the Indonesian government over, for example, tariff reductions,? Quentin Yao, the director of CPC?s department of joint ventures, told the press.

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported earlier that CPC chairman Chu Shao-hua had confirmed that Indonesia had offered three islands as possible locations for the company to set up an oil refinery.

Chu , however, said the state-owned oil company was likely to choose only one of them and he added that the deal would be off if the terms were deemed unsatisfactory.

Yao said CPC still hoped the Indonesian government to provide preferential measures, including tariff removal and utility bill cuts.

He added that the company would phase out a refinery in Taiwan and could move the old facilities to Indonesia. (*)