Pertamina to soon start procurement process for Balikpapan refinery project

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said it plans to soon start the procurement process of goods categorized as long lead items (LLI) estimated to worth around US$1 billion for the planned upgrade of the Balikpapan oil refinery in East Kalimantan in a bid to help accelerate the project.

The company said in a statement Tuesday that procurement process of the LLI, goods that will take a rather long time to manufacture and deliver, will start in October of this year and completed in the first quarter of 2017, when construction of the Balikpapan refinery upgrade project is scheduled to start. Pertamina reiterated that the project is targeted to be completed in July 2019, and operated in September.

?Will hold final investment decision in July 2017, which will be immediately followed with physical construction,? said Pertamina Processing Director Rachmad Hardadi said in the statement.

The Balikpapan refinery upgrade project will be carried out in two phases, Pertamina President Director Dwi Soetjipto said previously. The first phase is to increase production capacity of crude distillate unit to 360 bpd from 260 bpd. The second phase covers flexibility and fuel products quality from Euro II standard to Euro IV.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak