Pertamina shuts Cilacap refinery unit

State oil and gas company Pertamina has shut its 230,000-barrel-a-day refinery unit in Central Java's town of Cilacap for 20 days of maintenance, the Dow Jones Newswires reported on Thursday.

Pertamina's upstream director, Harri Kustoro, said the shutdown was brought forward from the original plan of Sept. 12.

"We saw that was the correct time (to start the shutdown)," said Kustoro, without providing further details.

The shutdown was likely brought forward while Pertamina's petroleum product reserve is equal to 22 days of consumption, a level the company considers safe.

Pertamina has nine refineries throughout the country, with a total capacity of 1.06 million b/d.(*)