Pertamina lets special unit to maintain Cilacap refinery

By Ruli Setiawan

The refinery directorate of state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina has signed an Memorandum of Understanding with PT Patra Badak Arun Solusi (PBAS), allowing the latter to take over the maintenance work of the Cilacap refinery in Central Java.

Pertamina said in a press release obtained on Thursday that the MoU was signed by Pertamina?s Processing Director Chrisna Damayanto and President Director of PBAS Nanang Untung recently.

The maintenance of the refinery has thus far been handled by the refinery unit. Under the MoU, the maintenance will be handled by PBAS.

Chrisna said Petamina has for long had an idea of allowing third party to handle the maintenance of its refinery as a result of benchmarking with foreign companies, which let third parties to handle the maintenance of their refineries rather than doing it themselves.

?Following the MoU, maintenance activities, such as turnaround, for the Cilacap refinery will be handled by PBAS. However, we shall still carry out maintenance process and scheduling,? Chrisna said, adding the change is part of Pertamina?s evolution and transformation into a better company.

PBAS was established as a result of the merger of three Pertamina?s subsidiaries, namely PT Patra, PT Badak and PT Arun.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon