Petronas considers oil refinery in Indonesia

Malaysian state oil firm Petronas is still interested in building a refinery in Indonesia with Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina, a Petronas official said on Thursday.

Indonesia has for some time tried to attract foreign investors to build new refineries to meet domestic demand, but domestic oil product prices have put off investors. The government keeps prices below global market levels.

Indonesia has nine oil refineries scattered across the archipelago with a total combined capacity of around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), but 30 percent of Indonesia's oil products consumption is still imported.

Petronas has been in talks with Pertamina to build a refinery, but there has been no deal yet.

"With Pertamina, we can work together in many areas. Hopefully also in processing and (building a) refinery," Datuk Anuar Ahmad, vice president of oil business at Petronas, told reporters in Jakarta. He gave no details.

Datuk Anuar was in Jakarta for the inauguration of the first Petronas pump station in the country.

Separately, Pertamina's processing director, Suroso Atmomartoyo, said the company is looking for a partner to build a 150,000 bpd new refinery in East Java.

"We badly need a new refinery to reduce our oil product imports. We are seeking a partner," Atmomartoyo said. (*)