Singapore Petroleum offers to upgrade Balongan refinery

Singapore Petroleum Co., the only oil refiner traded on the Singapore exchange, offered Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina technical assistance to upgrade a refinery in West Java province, the Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Singapore Petroleum is offering to help with the Balongan refinery, Indonesia's State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto told reporters in Singapore on Friday. Upgrading Balongan will enable the refinery to produce more oil products and simplify the process of refining crude oil into leaded and unleaded gasoline, he said.

"On refineries, Singapore has very strong experience and Indonesia needs additional capacity in existing refinery facilities," Sugiharto said. We can enhance the production at existing facilities."

The refinery, which has a crude distillation with capacity of 125,000 barrels per day, accounts for about 10 percent of Pertamina's refining capacity. It supplies fuel to the capital Jakarta and West Java province, one of the country's province, one of the country's most densely populated areas.(*)