Pertamina signs EPC contract with JGC Corporation

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) signed Thursday an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with Japanese firm JGC Corporation to develop a US$392 million Blue Sky Project at Pertamina?s Cilacap refinery in Central Java that will enable the refinery?s Unit IV to produce 91,000 barrels per day of RON 92 gasoline.

The contract was signed by Pertamina?s President Director Dwi Soetjipto and JGC?s Chairman Emeritus Yoshihiro Shigeshisa in a ceremony attended by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and several Cabinet members in Cilacap, Pertamina said in a statement.

The Cilacap Blue Sky Project aims to raise the quality of the refinery?s gasoline output from RON 88 to RON 92. It is a follow-up to the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) project which has been onstream since last October.

The EPC works are scheduled to be completed within 34 months.

?Once the project is completed, Cilacap Refinery Unit IV will be able to produce RON 92 gasoline with specifications heading to Euro IV which is more environmentally sound. Hence, our HOMC imports will be greatly reduced,? Dwi said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon