Indonesia expects to start new petrochemical plant in Feb

JAKARTA, (Reuters) - Indonesia is expected to start up a new petrochemical plant, Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI), this month, starting at 60 percent-capacity to produce aromatic and oil products, an official at state oil firm Pertamina said on Friday.

TPPI, located in Tuban city in East Java province, has a capacity of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate to feed its splitter.

"We expect Tuban Petrochemical (TPPI) to start up this month because everything is almost ready," Pertamina's processing director Suroso Atmomartoyo told Reuters, referring to the plant's alternative name.
"The plant (initially) will run at 60 percent capacity and will gradually increase after that. However, that will also depend on how much feedstock we have," he said.

Atmomartoyo said the plant would find some condensate from domestic sources and some from abroad.

"We know that there is not much domestic condensate. We will take some from Senipah," he said. Indonesia produces around 125,000 bpd of condensates, some of which are exported. The 125,000-bpd volume includes 25,000 bpd from Senipah.

Atmomartoyo said the petrochemical output would include 1.1 million tonnes of kerosene, 189,000 tonnes of diesel oil, 500,000 tonnes of paraxylene, 120,000 tonnes of orthoxylene, and 100,000 tonnes of toluene.

"If the feedstock is 100,000 bpd, then that is the level of production. If the feedstock is less, then the output will also become less than that," Atmomartoyo said.

He said most of the petrochemical products would be absorbed by the domestic market, while Pertamina would take all of its oil products.

Another Pertamina official who declined to be named said Pertamina owns 15 percent of TPPI and local company TubanPetro has 59.5 percent. Siam Cement of Thailand and Japanese firms Sojitz Corp. as well as Itochu Corp. have the remaining stakes.

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Reuters