FID Is Targeted To Be Completed In November, The Fate Of The Tuban Refinery Project Has Not Been Decided

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia is targeting a final investment decision (FID) from the grass root refinery (GRR) project or Tuban Refinery will be decided in November 2024. However, until today, the fate of the continuation of this project has not yet been decided by the government.

Bahlil said that he did target the FID of this project to be completed by the end of this month, but was constrained by the Regional Head Election (Pilkada) event which was held simultaneously which seized his attention as Chairman of the Political Party (Parpol).

"I did plan at the end of November, but we just finished the Pilkada. As chairman of the Party, we have to clean up the Pilkada first," said Bahlil, quoted on Saturday, November 29.

However, Bahlil confirmed that he had met with the President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero), Simon Aloysius Mantiri to discuss the continuation of the project included in the National Strategic Project (PSN).

Furthermore, Bahlil said that he also did not rule out the possibility of opening opportunities for new investors to complete the project.

"To the concession holders of the Working Area (WK) who have completed exploration but then do not want to create a POD (plan of development) and do not want to produce within a certain time that is in accordance with the rules, it is possible that we will open new investors because state goods cannot be made slow, it is not allowed," explained Bahlil.

When asked about Rosneft being released from the project worth Rp238.25 trillion, Bahlil said he still had to discuss further with the President Director of Pertamina.

"Not necessarily, we will discuss it with Pertamina later," said Bahlil.

Previously, Rosneft faced international sanctions due to the geopolitical war between Russia and Ukraine, making it difficult to provide funding for the national strategic project.

This Tuban Refinery project is a project owned by PT Pertamina (Persero) which holds 55 percent of shares and Rosneft holds 45 percent of shares.