Pertamina will no longer import kerosene beginning May

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina will stop kerosene imports in May thanks to additional kerosene supply from PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indonesia (TPPI), which operates an oil refinery plant in Tuban, East Java, Investor Daily reported on Tuesday.

"Beginning May, Pertamina will no longer import kerosene because TPPI will be able to cover the shortage of the kerosene supply which reaches about 400,000 barrels per month (bpm)," Pertamina's spokesman Muhammad Harun was quoted as saying.

He said that Pertamina had begun to receive kerosene supply of about 200,000 bpm from TPPI since March, this year. The company had agreed to increase the kerosene supply to 400,00 bpm beginning in May, he added.

Pertamina's kerosene imports which reached between 1 and 1.2 million barrels per month two years ago continued to decline following the increase in kerosene prices in the middle of 2004. At present, Pertamina's kerosene imports dropped to an average of 800,000 bpm. "In the last three months, the kerosene imports totaled only 200 bpm," Harun said.

At present, Pertamina's own refineries produce about 4.94 million bpm or about 164,700 barrels per day.

TPPI which operates its refinery plant in Tuban, East Java is expected to double its kerosene production to 400 bpm in May. The company which is 15 percent owned by Pertamina, 59.5 percent by Newco, 17 percent by Tuban Petrochemical Ptd Ltd, 4.25 percent by Itochu Corporation and 4.25 percent by Nissho Iwai Corporation, also produce paraxylene with a capacity of about 500,000 barrels per year. (*)