Innovation in the Fuel and Petrochemical Processing Industry, PRPP Launches General Design of High-Tech Refinery

Madrid, August 4 2022 – Monday (1/8/2022) was a momentous day for PRPP, a ceremony for the completion of General Engineering Design (GED) for the construction of the Grass Root Refinery (GRR) Tuban was held in Madrid, Spain.

This hybrid event was attended by a number of  management and representatives of PRPP shareholders both in person and through an online conference. From PRPP, Director of Development Eriyadi was present in Madrid, with Fransetya Hutabarat as the Director of Finance of PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional (KPI) was also join the event.

The GED work for the GRR Tuban began in November 2019 consisting of 2 (two) stages; Basic Engineering Design (BED) and Front End Engineering Design (FEED). The BED phase was completed on 31 March 2021 and was immediately followed by the FEED phase completion on 31 May 2022.

Built on 840 hectares of land in Jenu District, Tuban, the GRR Tuban consists of a total 70 units with 14 fuel processing units, 7 petrochemical processing units, and supporting units. The GRR Tuban refinery is targeted to be the industry leader with the highest processing margin compared to other refineries in Southeast Asia. One of the key innovations of the GED GRR Tuban is the use of high bottom of the barrel conversion technology that allows the GRR Tuban to process residues or residual crude oil into other high-value petroleum processing materials. In addition, GRR Tuban refinery is also projected to be able to process heavy and contained high sulfur crude oil which is known difficult to process. Aside from that, the GRR Tuban is integrated with petrochemical industrial complex that can process petroleum materials into petrochemical derivatives such as styrene, polypropylene, polyethylene, and aromatic products.

Eriyadi, stated in his speech that one of the greatest challenges of the project was the rise of COVID-19 pandemic in the beginning of the GED phase. In addition, Tecnicas Reunidas S.A (Tecnicas Reunidas) as the contractor for the construction of the GED based in Madrid, Spain made significant differences in distance and time zone between Spain and Indonesia, making the team had to adjust working hours and give extra efforts in the preparation of the GED.

"This pandemic forces a change in the way of working in this project where all development meetings, discussions, and workshops were usually held face-to-face. In addition, the time zone difference is very challenging, because all teams in Jakarta have to work long working hours," said Eriyadi.

“But amidst the condition and the changes in the way of work, this GED could still be well completed,” he added.

Eriyadi also expressed his highest appreciation to the company partners who worked hard in the completion of this GED, namely Tecnicas Reunidas, Worley, and all Process Licensor. He also reminded that the task of PRPP to realize national energy independence through the construction of the GRR Tuban still has a long way to go.

"In the near future, the company's job is to prepare a tender for EPC (Engineering Procurement Construction) and to ensure the financial aspects to fund the project. Therefore, all parties involved must work hand in hand and keep up the spirit", said Eriyadi.

The GED phase is an important phase in preparation for the construction of the GRR Tuban because this activity will produce a specific picture of the refinery equipment and infrastructure to be built at the GRR Tuban. The high complexity of the GRR Tuban, which reaches a scale of 13.3 based on the standard of the Nelson Complexity Index, makes the GED to be designed very carefully and well-calculated. GRR Tuban GED produced a total of 40,000 documents, involving 700 experts, 105 3D model review sessions, and 345 safety risk analysis and work sessions using the Hazard and Operability Study method. In total, the BED phase spent more than 2.1 million working hours.

Fransetya Hutabarat, stated that KPI is focused on encouraging the completion of the project to build the GRR Tuban on time, on quality, on cost, and on the raise of profitability of the fuel refinery.

"Regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current geopolitical condition of the world, KPI is fully committed to completing this project. In general, we are paying attention to safety aspects, time and cost optimization, compliance on applicable regulations and good corporate governance in the completion of this project", said Fransetya Hutabarat in his speech on the event.

On a separate occasion, the President Director of PRPP, Reizaldi Gustino, expressed his gratitude for the completion of this GED phase.

He stated that the completion of GED is one of the important milestones of PRPP in preparing the construction of the GRR Tuban, and he gave appreciation to all the parties involved in the completion of this GED.

"This GED completion provides a great boost to all teams in preparing for the construction of this GRR Tuban. Thank you to all PRPP teams who tirelessly worked together to reach this milestone. Thank you also to all stakeholders who supported the preparation of this GED from stakeholders, shareholders, the Board of Commissioner, company partners, Tecnicas Reunidas as general design contractor, Worley as a consultant in project management, and all Process Licensors, as well as other parties who involved on the project," concluded Reizaldi.