Iranian NIOC agree to invest $1 billion on Tuban refinery project

Oil services company PT Elnusa, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, said Wednesday that National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) had expressed committment to invest around US$1 billion or about 30 percent of project costs to develop a 300,000-barrel per day oil refinery plant in Tuban, East Java.

?The joint agreement with NIOC is expected to be signed on May 10,? Elnusa president Rudy Radjab said, adding that NIOC was also committed to supply heavy crude oil required for the plant.

Rudy added that he hoped that the Heads of Agreement for the project could be signed in the same month.

Pertamina's vice-president director Iin Arifin Takhyan said on Tuesday that Pertamina was still offering JV opportunity for new investors to build Tuban refinery despite having signed MoU with Chinese oil firm Sinopec.

Iin said the MoU with Sinopec was signed to build 100,000 BPD refinery. Pertamina, he said, needed a new refinery with capacity of up to 350,000 BPD. (godang)