REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CILACAP -- Indonesia's state-owned oil company PT Pertamina will start reducing the use of Ron 88 gasoline in stages from 2018 after the construction of a refinery project in Cilacap, Central Java, ends.
"God willing, the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracking refinery will be ready for launch by the President by the second week of October or by October 8, and then the development of the Cilacap Blue Sky Project (PBLC) refinery project will begin," the company's Processing Director, Rachmad Hardadi said on Monday.
He made the statement before newsmen after inspecting the RFCC refinery at Pertamina?s Refinery Unit IV Cilacap, ahead of its inauguration by President Joko Widodo.
He predicted that the PLBC project will be finished by the middle of 2018.
"When the PLBC project is finished, all gasoline coming out from Cilacap (produced at Pertamina Refinery Unit IV, will be 'Pertamax' or gasoline with a minimum octane of 92," he stated.
Therefore, the Pertamina Refinery Unit IV in Cilacap, which will start operations in the middle of 2018, will no longer produce 'premium' gasoline (RON 88).
Asked if it this was a signal that the premium will be phased out because the Cilacap Refinery Unit IV only caters to 60 percent of the fuel oil needs in Java and 34 percent in Indonesia, Hardadi admitted that this would be done in stages.
He added that although the Cilacap Refinery Unit IV could no longer produce premium gasoline like Refinery Unit II Dumai, RU II Plaju-Sungai Gerong and RU V Balikpapan, it would still produce it before the Refining Development Masterplan Program (RDMP) is finished.
In view of that he called on the public to not worry about the diversification causing a sudden absence of premium.
Regarding "pertalite" gasoline, Hardadi said it was actually a diversification product for Pertamina and was aimed at giving the public more options.
"Pertamina wishes to offer many types of products to choose from. Premium has an octane of 88, Pertalite 90, Pertamax 92, Pertamax Plus 95 and Pertamax Racing has a hundred octane for automotive sports purposes," he stated.
He further said that Pertamina wished to give more options to the public and it did not want to be left behind by consumers.
Hardadi said one of the new products to be introduced by Pertamina soon was LPG in a 5.5 kg container.
"So, in essence these products are mere diversification products. We have so far been known for selling 50 kilogram (kg) LPG for big restaurants, 12 kg LPG for the general public and also a 3kg LPG for the poor. We will soon produce a 5.5 kg LPG for young families or students staying at lodgings," he said.
Regarding RDMP, Hardadi said it was aimed at boosting the capacity of refineries and adding new infrastructure to the existing refineries.
He said there are four RDMP projects and three of them are to be jointly carried out with Saudi Aramco and another one with JX Nippon.
Pertamina also plans to build a new refinery, but it will only begin after the Presidential Regulation for acceleration of refinery development under a government-business entity cooperation scheme is issued.
"Today, national consumption of oil fuels is equal to around 1.6 million barrels of crude processing, while the installed capacity for Pertamina's refineries is 1,050,000 barrels, but the capacity of the operated refineries is only 850 barrels," he stated.
This means, that around 750,000 to 800,000 barrels of processed crude per day has to be imported.
With regards to this, he said the RDMP will be implemented immediately.
"If the RDMP project is finished, Pertamina's fuel oil production capacity will match the needs of the people, based on the 2015 situation," he said.
He further said that the first phase of the RDMP project will be completed by 2021 in Balikpapan and Cilacap and the second phase will end in Dumai and Balongan in 2023.
Based on Pertamina's estimate, fuel oil consumption in 2022 will touch 2.3 million to 2.6 million barrels of processed crude.
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