OSO Group plans $4.8b refinery project

Indonesia's OSO Group plans to build a US$4.8 billion oil refinery in a joint venture with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR), according to a report by Reuters.

The refinery is designed with a capacity of 600,000 bpd and expected operation by 2007. It would be located on part of OSO's concession in a free trade zone next to Batam from where it could take advantage of busy east Asian shipping lanes.

"We are going to refine all the group oil from Azerbaijan. The purpose is to trade or sell the processed oil to Indonesia or any other Asia-Pacific country," Mariano Asril, CEO of the OSO Group, told Reuters.

The refinery would be a departure for OSO, a non-listed holding company whose diversified portfolio includes mining, palm oil, hotels, airline ground services and fisheries.

SOCAR has joint ventures with other international partners but this would be its first project in Indonesia.(*)