Pertamina to temporarily shut Balikpapan CDU for turnaraound: Report

State oil and gas company Pertamina is planning to shut a 200,000 barrel-a-day crude distillation unit at its Balikpapan refinery for eight days in May, a refinery official was quoted by Dow Jones as saying Tuesday.

The Balikpapan refinery has two CDUs with a combined capacity to process 260,000 barrels a day of crude. The larger CDU will be shut in May for cleaning, the official said.

Aside from the brief maintenance in May, there are no major refinery turnaround plans scheduled at Balikpapan this year. The refinery will undergo a major turnaround in March 2003, the official said.

The eight-day shutdown would reduce low sulfur waxy residue export availability from Balikpapan in May.

The refinery official estimates 400,000 barrels less LSWR from Balikpapan in view of the CDU shutdown. Pertamina allocated 1.6 million barrels of LSWR from Balikpapan for March export. (*)