Efficient! Pertamina's Refinery Operational Cost is Lower than Singapore

Jakarta, September 9, 2022 – Parallel with the refineries' construction and repair carried out by Pertamina, refinery operations are now more efficient and able to compete with several refineries owned by world energy companies in the Asia Pacific.

Pertamina's hard work can be proven by Pertamina's refineries operational costs, which continue to decline by an average of around USD 3.67 per barrel. Pertamina's refinery operating costs are much lower than Singapore's refinery operating costs, which reached USD 7.81 per barrel.

The lowest refinery operating costs have been achieved by two refineries, namely Refinery Unit (RU) IV Cilacap at USD 2.83 per barrel and RU III Plaju at USD 2.92 per barrel.

"Efforts to develop and revamp the refinery are continuously carried out by Pertamina. The results can suppress refinery operations so that they are lower than other oil and gas companies in the Asia Pacific," said Taufik Adityawarman, President Director of PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional.

The decline in refinery operations was obtained from breakthroughs and savings made by Pertamina, especially in crude oil procurement. Currently, for crude oil procurement, Pertamina can compete in the global market at USD 69.246 per barrel, lower than other companies at USD 69.46 per barrel and other oil and gas companies, above USD 71.80 per barrel.

With the ongoing RDMP program, Pertamina's refineries have also become more flexible in processing various crude oil types. Therefore, Taufik said that Pertamina's average Net Cash Margin (NCM) is very positive, up to USD 4.88 per barrel. This success is even far compared to Malaysia Petronas of USD 1.56 per barrel.

"One of the efforts to reduce operating costs is by reducing purchasing crude cost because the largest portion in fuel production is purchasing crude oil cost which reaches 92% of the Production Cost," he concluded.**