Pertamina to soon conclude tests of Iranian crude
Tuesday, April 18 2017 - 04:28 AM WIB
Petromindo
State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has completed processing trial of crude oil from Iran at its Cilacap refinery , but said it must conduct a series of other tests to ascertain whether the crude is suitable to be processed at the domestic refinery.
Senior Vice President of Pertamina's Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) Daniel S. Purba said in a statement Tuesday that the company is currently conducting laboratory test, and to hold a series of other tests, the results of which are expected in the near future.
He said Cilacap refinery has been running at half of its 120,000 bpd capacity, processing crude from Saudi Arabia.
He said that the company is conducting test to decide on the volume of Iranian crude that can be processed in Cilacap, and whether it can produce other products aside from fuel products. He said the Iranian crude can also be processed to produce lubricants. The company is also looking for blending possibility with Arabian crude.
Daniel said if the Iranian crude is suitable for the Cilacap refinery, Pertamina will have long-term supply contract with Iran, and if the price is right.
Iran signed contract a few months ago for shipment of 1 million barrels of Iranian light crude for processing trial in Indonesian refineries.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak