Indonesian state oil company Pertamina will stop using the Platinum tanker as a storage platform for low sulfur waxy residual (LSWR) in December, Reuters reported.. The last loading from the vessel, a VLCC, is scheduled for December 7-9. The Platinum tanker has a capacity of about 230,000 tons and gave Pertamina more flexibility for exporting LSWR as it allowed buyers to offload the product onto larger tankers than would be possible at onshore terminals.
From January, Pertamina will load LSWR from Balikpapan and Dumai in 200,000-ton lots, with about nine to 10 lots lifted from Balikpapan and one to two from Dumai, traders said. The state oil company was expected to issue a tender later this week to sell 200,000 tons each of cracked LSWR from Balikpapan and Platinum for December 7-9 lifting, traders said.