Patra SK's plant construction to begin soon

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina and SK Corp have set up a joint venture company, Patra SK, to construct a lubricating base oil plant at Pertamina’s Dumai refinery located in the Sumatran province of Riau. The construction of the plant is estimated to cost US$ 200 million. “We plan to begin construction of the base oil plant in January and expect it to be completed in 2008,” said Pertamina President Ari Soemarno. He said Pertamina and SK are also in talks to upgrade the capacity of the Dumai refinery from the current capacity of 120,000 barrels to 170,000 barrels per day. PT Pertamina announced in August that it would invest US$11 billion over the next six years to boost the country’s refining capacity by 20% by 2012. Indonesia currently imports about 30% of its domestic petroleum product requirements. (December 5, 2006)