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tate-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina officially launched on Wednesday the commencement of construction work and the operation of several oil and gas-related projects worth US$340 million.

The projects include the expansion of two large oil terminals in Sambu Island and Tanjung Uban, both in Riau Islands, which will absorb investment worth $94 million and $62 million, respectively.

'€œThe expansion of the two terminals is part of our long-term target to have a total national storage capacity of 7.5 million kiloliters (kl) in the next five years,'€ said Pertamina'€™s business and marketing director, Hanung Budya Yuktyanta, during the launch ceremony on Sumbu Island.

He said Pertamina currently had a storage capacity of 4.5 million kl, which was only sufficient to meet national fuel consumption for 20 days. '€œNational consumption for our three main fuel products [diesel, Premium and Pertamax gasoline] reaches 160,000 kl per day,'€ he said, adding that consumption was expected to increase to 330,000 kl per day in 10 years'€™ time.

Hanung said storage capacity at the Sambu terminal, which has been in operation since 1997, would be increased by 150,000 kl to 360,000 kl in the first stage of the expansion program, which is expected to be completed in 2016.

The expanded terminal, which will have a docking capacity of 100,000 deadweight tons (DWT), will also supply marine fuel oil (MFO) for ships passing through Batam or Singapore waters. The storage capacity will be further increased by 300,000 kl in the second stage of the expansion, and by another 235,000 kl in the third stage, which is scheduled for completion by 2020.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Tanjung Uban terminal will increase its storage capacity to 200,000 kl and docking capacity to 100,000 DWT.

'€œTanjung Uban terminal will be mainly used to supply fuel for domestic consumption. The construction work will also be completed in 2016,'€ Hanung said.

Besides launching the start of the two terminals'€™ expansion projects, Pertamina also began on Wednesday operations at its largest liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessel, named the Pertamina Gas I.

The vessel was bought last September from South Korea'€™s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. at a cost of $76.2 million.

The Pertamina Gas I, which is 225.81 meters long and 36.60 meters wide, has capacity for 50,000 tons of LPG.

'€œThe vessel is multifunctional. It can carry LPG and it can also be a mother vessel, which is able to transfer its LPG to smaller vessels for distribution in regions across the country, particularly eastern regions,'€ Hanung said.

The forth project launched on Wednesday was the operation of a high-pressured LPG terminal in Panjang, Lampung, which has capacity for 5,000 tons of LPG. The terminal handles the distribution of LPG in Lampung, South Sumatra, and Bengkulu.

Wednesday'€™s event also saw Pertamina mark the opening of an aviation fuel station at the new Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, along with two other aviation fuel stations at Hasanuddin airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and Lombok airport in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

Pertamina has spent more than $100 million on building the three aviation fuel stations.

'€œRunning aviation fuel stations is one of our strategies to tap into the country'€™s growing aviation industry,'€ Pertamina president director Karen Agustiawan said.

Karen said that Pertamina would be launching several other projects in the future to meet its long-term goal of becoming one of Asia'€™s major energy companies. (koi)