Pertamina: Iran crude contains too much sulfur for Cilacap refinery

Petromindo|Dasir

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said that based on recent processing trial, the imported Iranian light crude does not meet the specification required by the Cilacap refinery as it contains too much sulfur of 1.5 percent.

Pertamina Processing Director Toharso said on Monday that the Cilacap refinery requires crude with maximum sulfur content of 0.2 percent. As a result, only about 10 percent of the imported Iran crude can be processed at the refinery, which has installed production capacity of 300,000 bpd.

He said that the results of the processing trial will be handed over to Pertamina?s Integrated Supply Chain (ISC), which will decide whether to proceed with an earlier plan to import greater volume of Iranian light crude to be processed at the Cilacap refinery in Central Java.

Pertamina imported 1 million tons of Iranian light crude following a 2016 agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company for processing trial at the Cilacap refinery. The refinery has been processing Arabian light crude (ALC). But Pertamina is looking for alternative crude including the possibility of blending ALC with Iranian light crude to produce various fuel products including lubricants.

If the processing trial is successful, Pertamina plans to import greater volume of the Iranian light crude on a long-term basis. (*)