Iran to build $3bn oil refinery in Indonesia

An Iranian company will start construction of a 300,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) oil refinery in Indonesia in the near future. Based on an agreement which was signed on Tuesday by Iranian oil firm Nakhle Barani Pardis and Indonesia's PT Kreasindo, the Iranian side will build the treatment facility with the budget value of $3bln. Nakhle Barani Pardis has reportedly accepted to finance 30 percent of the refinery which is planned to be built at Banten or another location in West Java. The project is set to start next year and will take an estimated three years to complete. “All of the products will be exported,” said Kreasindo President Rudy Radjab. Late in January, Iranian and Indonesian officials, in a meeting in Jakarta, underlined the need for the further expansion of mutual cooperation in the field of modern energy resources. During the meeting, member of Iran-Indonesia Parliamentary Friendship Group Seyed Hashem Banihashemi and Indonesian Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Susilo Siswoutomo explored avenues for reinvigorating and bolstering bilateral ties, specially in energy fields. The Iranian lawmaker pointed to the current Iran-Indonesia relations, and said, “Iran has valuable experiences in the fields of hydroelectric power generation and nuclear energy and we are ready to cooperate with Indonesia in these fields.” He underlined that oil refinery and dam construction and converting refineries’ fuel from diesel to combined fuel are among those areas Iran is interested to cooperate with Indonesia. The Indonesian deputy energy minister, for his part, said use of modern energy resources is on Indonesia's agenda and Jakarta is willing to cooperate with Iran in this arena.