Pertamina plans JV with Repsol for TDAE plant project

By Febry Silaban

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina hopes to set up a joint venture company with Repsol early next year to realize a planned Treated Distillate Aromatic Extract (TDAE) plant in Cilacap, Central Java.

?Probably a JV will be set up, and usually Pertamina becomes the majority shareholder (in the JV) if we look at past (deals),? said Pertamina VP for Corporate Communications, Wianda Pusponegoro on Thursday.

She said that the two companies has recently signed a heads of agreement for the planned TDAE plant, to be located at Pertamina?s refinery unit IV in Cilacap.

Wianda said that feasibility study for the project has been completed. Total investment requirement is estimated at US$80 million. The plant will have annual production capacity of around 60,000 tons per year.

TDAE is known in the market as the raw material for the making of tire and synthetic rubber. At present, Pertamina has been producing such product called Minarex at its Cilacap refinery. However, its quality is still less than expected, which is the reason Pertamina is now seeking to produce TDAE, this portal reported last year.

Pertamina and Respsol signed in December of last year the MoU for the TDAE plant, which will use available feedstock at the refinery. Commercial operation date for the plant has been scheduled for 2019.

This portal reported September 20 that a company called PT Enerco RPO Internasional plans to build a TDAE plant at the Kabil Industrial Estate in Batam, Riau Islands Province.

Enerco on September 19 signed a MoU with PT Kabil Citranusa (the owner of the industrial estate), and Batam Indonesia Free Trade Zone Authority (BP Batam), a state agency tasked with overseeing industrial areas on Batam Island, for the planned project. BP Batam will be in charge of facilitating all the necessary permits for project.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak