Self-sufficiency In BBM 2023, DPR Encourages Pertamina To Build New Refineries

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JAKARTA - Member of Commission VII DPR RI Mulyanto encouraged the government to be more serious about building a new refinery after the fire at the Balongan Refinery, Indramayu, West Java.

He considered that the new refineries would have a significant impact on the amount of national fuel oil (BBM) production.

According to him, the government needs to work extra because so far the development and construction of the fuel refinery is still very slow.

"It is almost 25 years since the operation of RU VII Kasim in Papua in 1997, with a capacity of 10 thousand barrels per day (bpd), there is practically no more construction of new oil refineries," Mulyanto said in his statement, Tuesday, March 30.

Furthermore, he explained, of the total six existing refineries, Pertamina produced 850-950 thousand bpd of fuel, with Balongan's contribution of 16 percent of the total refinery production or 125 thousand bpd which was later increased to 150 thousand bpd.

Currently, said Mulyanto, Pertamina is upgrading existing refineries and adding two new refineries, namely the Tuban Refinery with an installed capacity of 300 thousand bpd and the Bontang Refinery.

"If this plan is successful, Pertamina will process oil at 2.2 million bpd and be able to achieve self-sufficiency in fuel by 2023," said the PKS politician.

To that end, he encouraged the government to support Pertamina in adding new refineries. Because according to him, the fire that hit the Balongan Unit VI Refinery was estimated to have an impact on the amount of national fuel production, so he had to import.

"The government must not delay and lose to the oil import mafia," said Mulyanto.