Pertamina?s fuel imports sharply drop

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) said its fuel imports has sharply dropped following the operations of RFCC Cilacap in Central Java and the TPPI plant in East Java.

The Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) unit at Pertamina?s Cilacap refinery came onstream in September of this year, while the refinery and petrochemical plant owned by PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) started operation in the following month. TPPI Is controlled by Pertamina.

?Thanks to the operation of RFCC (Cilacap) and TPPI, Pertamina does no longer import HOMC and has stopped exporting naphta because it can process it now domestically. Meanwhile, the import of Premium gasoline dropped 37 percent, diesel oil 44 percent and LPG by 12,? President Director Dwi Soetjipto said during the opening of Refining Day 2015 at Pertamina?s headquarters in Jakarta.

Pertamina?s import of Avtur jet fuel has also dropped by 400,000 barrels per month this year since Pertamina has been able to convert kerosene into jet fuel.

Pertamina is planning to upgrade four of its refineries with an average investment of $5.5 billion for each project. Once all the projects have been completed, the production capacity of Pertamina?s refineries will increase significantly, allowing Pertamina to further cut its imports, curtail its dollar spending by US$22.37 million per day, Dwi said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon