Crude oil processed at Balongan rises to 42.8 million barrels in 2002

The Balongan refinery in West Java processed a total of 42.8 million barrels of crude oil in 2002, up from 38.9 million barrels in the previous year, an official of state oil and gas firm Pertamina told Petromindo.Com Wednesday.

The crude oil came from Duri and Minas fields in Riau, southern Sumatra, and from Nan Hai field in China, said Suwandi, Balongan refinery?s spokesman. Crude from Riau was mostly Sumatra Light Crude, he said.

Suwandi said that in 2002 the Balongan plant had turned out 37.3 million barrels of fuel items including unleaded premium gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, and diesel oil and decant oil.

The Balongan plant is among the nine oil refineries in Indonesia. They belong to the government and are operated by Pertamina.

The facilities are located in Pangkalan Berandan (N. Sumatra); Dumai and Sungai Pakning (C. Sumatra); Musi (S. Sumatra); Balikpapan (E. Kalimantan); Cepu and Cilacap (C. Java); Balongan (W. Java); and Kasim (Papua). (godang)