Indonesian state-owned oil corporation Pertamina has ended its partnership with Saudi Aramco to upgrade its Cilacap refinery in Central Java. The company is now looking for a new strategic partner, and still hopes to complete the 52,000 bbl/d expansion by 2025.
In 2016, Pertamina signed a deal to create a joint venture with Saudi Aramco to own, upgrade and operate the Cilacap refinery. Pertamina would have owned 55% in the upgraded refinery, while Saudi Aramco would have had the remaining 45%. The Cilacap refinery expansion project was estimated at US$4bn to US$5bn and aimed to add 52,000 bbl/d to the existing facility to reach 400,000 bbl/d. It would have been designed to process Arabian crude supplied by Saudi Aramco and will also improve the quality of oil products (higher complexity level and higher value-added product) by producing refined products meeting Euro V specifications, basic petrochemicals, and Group II base oil for lubricants.