Pertamina, Saudi Aramco sign HoA to upgrade Cilacap refinery

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) and Saudi Arabia?s state owned firm Saudi Aramco signed on Thursday a Heads of Agreement (HoA) to upgrade Pertamina?s Cilacap Unit IV refinery in Central Java with an estimated total investment of US$5 billion.

The HoA was signed by Pertamina?s President Director Dwi Soetjipto and Saudi Aramco?s President of CEO Amin al-Nasser during a ceremony witnessed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and some Cabinet members in Cilacap, Pertamina said in a statement.

The upgrading program will make the Cilacap refinery the largest in the country with improved economic parameters. Its Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) capacity will be increased from 345,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 370,000 bpd, while its complexities will increase from three to nine with production result increasing from 73 percent to 96 percent.

Following the signing of the HoA, Pertamina and Saudi Aramco will carry out site preparation and basic engineering design next year. If the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) is completed in 2017 and EPC starts in 2018, the upgrading project is expected to be completed and start up at the end of 2021.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon