Pertamina receives environmentally friendly vessel

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said it is adding another tanker called MT Sanggau to its crude transportation armada.

The tanker with a capacity of 40,000 long ton dead weight (LTDW) was built with the ?eco ship? concept, which makes it fuel efficient and environmentally friendly, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

MT Sanggau was built by Newtimes Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, based in Jinjing, Jiangsu province of China. It is the 66th vessel of the 273-strong armada now operated by Pertamina to assure stability of energy supplies across the country. The vessel worth US$31 million is scheduled to depart from Newtimes? shipyard on Jan. 29, 2016 and start operation in early March.

?The vessel was initially scheduled to be officially delivered (to Pertamina) in March 2016. However, the delivery has been realized earlier than schedule,? Mulyono, Senior Vice President of Shipping at Pertamina?s Directorate of Marketing, was quoted by the statement as saying in Jinjing on Wednesday.

He said Pertamina needs vessels which are fuel efficient and environmentally friendly for the transportation of crude oil to meet the national oil lifting target. MT Sanggau is one of such vessels. It is equipped with environmentally friendly equipment such as Ballast Water Treatment, Oil Discharge Monitoring, and combustion engine that meets the IMO Tier II standard for exhaust gas emissions.

In its propulsion system, the combustion engine uses the Electronic Fuel Injection technology and is equipped with variable timing in its exhaust gas emission system. It is a new technological application for vessel engine. Besides, the use of pre-shrouded vane (PSV) and rudder bulb in the engine leads to a 5-7 percent cut in fuel consumption.

Mulyono said Pertamina will receive two more vessels from Newtimes in March.

He said Pertamina is buying the vessels in order to improve its efficiency in crude transportation and in line with the cabotage principle that obligates the use of Indonesian-flagged vessel in domestic sea transportation. The firm ordered the vessels from the Chinese companies because local shipyards are still unable to build some large-size vessels.

?Local shipyards are still unable to build some large-size vessels, which is why Pertamina has to sign some shipbuilding contracts internationally. This is a challenge (for local shipyards). They can achieve progress together with Pertamina since it is the largest buyer of vessels made by local shipyards,? Mulyono said.

As of end-2015, Pertamina has around self-owned 72 vessels, including 34 or 47 percent of the total were built by local shipyards. Of the 34, 30 are already in operation, four still under construction.

?Pertamina has a long-term plan to strengthen its self-owned armada. It is highly committed to cooperating with local partners in building vessels needed by the firm. Pertamina is committed to making progress together with other industries in Indonesia,? he said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon