Pertamina may restart Cilicap refinery unit this week

Reuters – Indonesia state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina may restart a 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) Cilicap refinery unit this week, company officials said on Monday, helping to replenish gasoline and diesel supplies.

A Pertamina official who declined to be named, said the refinery unit, which accounts for almost one third of Indonesia's 1 million bpd capacity, should reopen by the end of the week.
It was shut in mid-July for schedule maintenance.

A separate unit at Cilicap still running can process 118,000 bpd. Pertamina's total refining capacity meets only 70 percent of the country's demand so any shutdown normally increases demand for refined product imports.

Gasoline and diesel imports reached 6.9 million barrels of gasoline in July, which is expected to fall in August to 6.1 million barrels while diesel imports are expected to decline to 4.3 million barrels from 5.4 million barrels in the same period.

Gasoline stocks now stand at 16 days supply, down from the usual 20 days, while diesel supplies stand at 20 days of normal use Mochamad Harun, Pertamina's spokesman, said.

"We are not worried about having 16 days gasoline stock and 20 days diesel stocks because some new imports will come soon," Harun told reporters.

The company official added that gasoline stocks should rise to 20 days supply in the next two weeks through imports "if necessary."

Reporting by Muklis Ali; Editing by Ed Lane