Pertamina deploys medium range vessel to distribute jet fuel

State-energy company PT Pertamina has launched a medium range (MR) vessel at its Dumai oil refinery on Monday (29/07) that will be used to distribute jet fuel from the Dumai refinery to other parts of the nation.

General Manager of Pertamina for Dumai Refinery Unit II, M. Dharmariza said the MR vessel is more efficient given its fast loading rate and certainly larger capacity, which has the potentiality to boost Pertamina's revenues by US$3.96 million per annum.

In May this year, the company started utilizing large-range vessels with tonage capacity of 80,000-125,000 dead weight tonnage (dwt) to supply diesel fuel, replacing medium range vessels with capacity of 25,000-45,000 dwt.

"This time, we replace the small tanker II with capacity of only 3,500-6,500 dwt with medium range vessels with capacity of 25,000-45,000 dwt," he said.

At present, the Dumai Refinery Unit II produces aviation jet fuel at a rate of 216,000 barrels per month, thus requiring five small tanker II type of vessels to deliver the jet fuel per month. With the use of MR vessel, the company only deploys one MR vessel per month to deliver 214,000 barrels of jet fuel.

As a result, the company cuts the occupancy rate of its jetty in Dumai falls to 15 percent from as high as 85-95 percent at present, which ultimately reducing costs.

Editing by Roffie Kurniawan