Pertamina picks SPC for crude processing deal

State oil and gas company Pertamina said on Wednesday it had appointed Singapore refiner SPC to refine its crude starting August this year to anticipate oil products shortage due to planned Balongan refinery shut down.

"SPC will refine 62,500 barrels of oil per day of Minas crude for Pertamina in August and September; it is expected SPC will refine 100,000 BOPD of Iranian Light Crude (ILC) in July, 62,500 BOPD in August and September, 125,000 BPOD in October and 100,000 BOPD in November. However, the talks over ILC is not yet final," said Dwi Kushartoyo, acting deputy director downstream in charge of refinery.

"SPC will be summoned today to finalize the ILC crude processing deal," he added.

Dwi said the first shipment of oil products is expected to take place in August.

The 125,000-BPD Balongan refinery is scheduled for a three-month maintenance shut down in August

Pertamina said it conduct the crude processing deal to avoid fuel shortage and prevent prices from rising too high. (godang)