Dumai refinery to be closed temporarily

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina will shut its Dumai refinery in early July for maintenance, The Jakarta Post newspaper reported in its Thursday edition quoting the Dow Jones Newswires.

The 120,000-barrels-a-day refinery, which is located in the central Sumatran province of Riau, is expected to be shut for 21 days, Pertamina's Director for Processing Suroso Atmomartoyo said.

It will also shut its 110,000-b/d refinery in Cilacap for 20 days in September, Suroso added.

Indonesia has nine refineries with a total capacity of 1 million b/d.

Pertamina anticipates bigger imports will be necessary due to the temporary closure of the refineries, according to the company’s director of marketing and trading Ari Soemarno.

“We have programmed (the maintenance) for a long g time,” Ari told The Jakarta Post. “There won’t be any problem with securing oil imports.”

Pertamina had earlier intended to close the Dumai refinery for maintenance in June.(*)