Govt looking for refinery consultant

Three ministries, namely the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), the Ministry of State Enterprises and the Ministry of Finance, will cooperate in selecting an international consultant for the development of a giant refinery in East Kalimantan, Director General of Oil and Gas A Edy Hermantoro said on Tuesday.

Once the consultant has been selected, it will cooperate with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in assessing various aspects, including the technical specifications of the planned refinery, the type of crude, the types of oil and petrochemical products it will produce and the amount of investment needed Besides, the MEMR has signed cooperation with a university in making the technical specifications.

Base on the results of the assessment, the project will be offered to investors. Interested investors will be invited to inspect the future location of the refinery project in September this year.

Besides, the government will set up a task force comprising retired refinery workers to ensure the project will run as scheduled.

The government has allocated 900 ha of lands for the refinery and a 15 year tax holiday. Besides, the Iraqi government has got assurance from the Iraqi government on the supply of 300,000 bpd of oil.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon