INDONESIA: CPC to build cracker in Indonesia, chairman says

CPC Corp. Taiwan chairman Tai Chein confirmed that the company has inked an agreement with the Indonesian government to build a naphtha cracker in the country, marking a milestone in the government’s New Southbound Policy. The state-run refiner has inked a memorandum of understanding with PT Pertamina, its Indonesian counterpart, to invest TWD 200 billion (USD 6.47 billion) in the project, Tai said.

CPC and Pertamina would each take a 45 percent stake in the plant, with the remaining 10 percent earmarked for Taiwanese and foreign petrochemical investors, Tai said. CPC has begun feasibility studies and assessing five sites proposed by the Indonesian government for the project, Tai said, adding that its investment plans would begin to take shape in the middle of next year. The project is expected to produce nearly 1 million t/y of ethylene and meet the demands of Indonesia’s population of 261 million. The project would also benefit from Indonesia’s incentive package for petrochemical investments, which waives all corporate income taxes for the first 20 years, followed by a 50 percent tax cut the next two years, CPC said.

Source: Daily “The Taipei Times”, Taipei; 17 Oct 2018
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)