Pertamina orders fuel processing to Caltex Singapore

State oil and gas company Pertamina, on behalf of the government, is finalizing a crude processing deal with Caltex Singapore Ltd. to process Pertamina's crude oil into fuels in anticipation of increasing fuel demand in the domestic market.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro revealed that negotiations between Pertamina and Caltex Singapore had reached the final stage, and the agreement would signed soon by both parties.

The minister noted that the crude processing deal with Caltex, if it is sealed, would be a new deal for Pertamina, since the state oil firm previously used Shell refinery in Singapore.

"This is one of diversification strategies. Thus far we always had crude processing deal with Shell," he said.

Purnomo said that in anticipation of the increasing domestic fuel demand, Indonesia was also considering increasing crude oil import from the Middle East.

Thus far Indonesia has been processing a total of 1 million barrels of crude per day (bpd), of which 200,000 bpd is imported.

Pertamina started to use foreign refinery plants in August 2000, when fuel shortages hit many parts of the country because of the shut-down of Pertamina's Balongan refinery plant. (godang)