Elnusa to team up with Venezuela's PDVSA to build refinery plant

Venezuelan company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) will likely join the consortium of Pertamina's subsidiary PT Elnusa and National Iranian Oil Refinering and Distribution Company (NIORDC) to build a refinery plant in Indonesia, Bisnis Indonesia reported Monday.

Elnusa's president director Rudy Radjab said in Jakarta Saturday that the Venezuelan company had shown interest to invest about US$1 billion in the US$4 billion refinery project.

"The Venezuelan company has agreed to join the refinery project which will be built either in Tuban or Banten. But we still need the approval both from the government and Pertamina if the Venezuelan company can join the project," he was quoted as saying.

He added that in addition to providing $1 billion in investment, the Venezuelan company would also provide crude oil supply of up to 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) or half of the 300,000-bpd refinery's need..

If approved, the Venezuelan company would edge out China National Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) which had earlier expressed interest to take up to 51 percent interest in the project.

Rudy said that he would soon meet Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Pertamina's president director Ari Soemarno to discuss the Venezuelan company's interest.

In addition to the refinery project, PT Elnusa and the Iranian company has agreed to jointly develop a crude oil processing facility in Bojonegara, Serang, Banten, with total investment of about $663 million. (*)