REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- PT Pertamina made a net profit of US$2.83 billion in the third quarter of this year, 209 percent more than the US$914 million it made in the third quarter in the previous year. The president director of the state-owned oil and gas company, Dwi Soetjipto, on Tuesday credited the achievement to improved operational performance and efficiency as a result of various initiatives and breakthroughs.

He said although the profit soared, corporate income was down 16.8 percent to US$26.62 billion from US$32 billion in the previous period due to a relatively lower price of crude. "What is encouraging is that net profit performance has been good as a result of enhanced efficiency and initiatives like the 'Breakthrough Project'," he added.

Dwi Soetjipto noted that the company continued to improve its operational performance by increasing efficiency and successfully cut costs up to 27 percent in the first month of this year. "Until September 2016, around US$1.6 million had been saved through Breakthrough Projects," he revealed.

The company's downstream performance in the third quarter reached 646,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, consisting of 309,000 barrels of oil and 1,953 mmscfd of gas per day. This was 12.3 percent more compared to the same period before.

Meanwhile, the geothermal power production reached 2,233 GwH electricity equivalent. He stressed that the company continued to develop infrastructure including gas, processing and marketing infrastructure.

Several projects such as Gresik-Semarang, Muara Karang-Muara Tawar and Tegal Gede gas pipeline projects have been completed up to 70 percent.The first RDMP (Refining Development Master plan Program) phase of the refinery project in Balikpapan, Kalimantan, is expected to be completed in June 2019 and it will become operational in September 2019 while the first phase of the project is expected to be completed in the middle of 2021 when its production will meet Euro 5 standard.

The New Grass Root Refinery project in Tuban, East Java, a joint venture between Pertamina and Rosneft of Russia, is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. The production there will also meet Euro 5 standard.

The RDMP of the refinery project in Cilacap, Central Java, which is a cooperation project with Saudi Aramco, is expected to be completed in 2022, also with Euro 5 Standard in production. "As for the New Grass Root Refinery project in Bontang (Kalimantan), it has been decided that it would be referred to Pertamina for completion, a goal expected to be achieved tentatively by 2023 with Euro 5 Standard production," Dwi Soetjipto explained.

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