Pertamina to spend $450 million for crude terminal construction

State oil and gas company Pertamina said it will set aside US$450 million to build a centralized crude terminal (CCT) in Lawe-lawe, Penaham Pasir Utara regency, East Kalimantan with initial investment of about US$450 million.

Pertamina spokesman Mochamad Harun said over the weekend that the crude terminal which would be built on a 750-hectare area, would have a storage capacity of 25 million barrels. He said that the project would be designed to improve energy security as well as to give Pertamina more flexibility in blending more types of locally produced oil with imported ones.

Harun said that the CCT would also be developed into crude hub in Southeast Asia as well as to support Pertamina?s long-term plan to build several crude oil hubs in the country. ?The CCT will become storage facilities for all refineries in the country,? he said.

?The tender for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) will be launched this year,? Harun said. The Lawe-lawe CCT which would have 25 storages with total capacity of 25 million barrels would be built in two stages. The project is scheduled for completion in 2014.

Harun said that the construction of the CCT would be in line with Peramina?s long-term plan to buy all oil produced by the country?s production sharing contractors (PSCs) to meet the surging fuel needs.

At present, Pertamina imports about 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil while most of local oil production is exported because their specifications do not meet with those required by Pertamina?s refineries.

Editing by Roffie Kurniawan