Winner of Cilacap new cracker project to be announced this month

Pertamina will soon announce the winner of the tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the company?s residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) which will be built inside the company?s Cilacap refinery complex in Central Java, Investor Daily reported on Wednesday.

?The winner of the tender will be announced this month. The construction comes in line with the government?s plan to increase fuel production at the Cilacap refinery plant,? Syofrinaldy, the general manager of the Cilacap power plant, said on Tuesday.

He said that the new cracker was expected to begin commercial production in 2015. ?At present, we are still in the selection process. Bidders have to meet a number of technical requirements to be able to win the tender,? he added.

Pertamina initially planned to build the new cracking unit with its own resources in cooperation with Japanese firm Mitsui Corp. The two companies had agreed to form a joint venture to handle the EPC works of the US$1.5 billion project. Mitsui latter withdrew from the project.

The new RFCC, the second cracking unit at the Cilacap refinery complex, will process residual fuel products into high octane fuel. It was initially scheduled for commercial operation in 2012. (*)