Pertamina to name CPD winner next week

State oil and gas firm Pertamina will next week pick refiner to process Indonesia?s crude, company's president director Baihaki Hakim said Friday.

Baihaki said they had held talks with several Asian and Middle East crude refining firms namely Shell Singapore, Singapore Petroleum Co Ltd, Beyond Petroleum Singapore and China?s CNOOC Ltd. He did not mention the names of Middle East refiners involved in such negotiations.

Pertamina?s downstream director Muchsin Bahar said recently that his company might appoint Shell Singapore for the crude processing deal because Shell offered better terms and condition.

Muchsin said that Pertamina was expecting any refiner picked would distill between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels per day (BPD) of crude.

Meanwhile, Baihaki said that any refiner picked would distill Iran Light Crude Pertamina would import from the Middle East, Baihaki said.

The crude processing deal is set to offset Indonesia?s refinery capacity decline due to the Balongan refinery overhaul, scheduled to start in August.(godang)