White & Case LLP has advised Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) on its Joint Venture Development Agreement with PT Pertamina (Persero) (Pertamina), Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company, for the approximately US$5 billion upgrade of the Cilacap refinery in Indonesia.

The agreement was signed on December 22, 2016 between Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser and Pertamina President-Director and CEO Dwi Soetjipto, detailing the framework for moving the project to the next phase of development. This followed the heads of agreement signed in November 2015.

"The agreement sends a strong signal of the commitment from Saudi Aramco and Pertamina towards helping Indonesia achieve energy security, one of the government's key priorities," said Singapore-based White & Case partner Steve Payne, head of the Firm's South East Asia energy practice.

"We look forward to continue supporting long-standing client Saudi Aramco on this strategic project aimed at reforming and improving Indonesia's energy infrastructure as part of its wider ambition to transform the country's economy," said London-based partner Saul Daniel.

Located in central Java, the Cilacap refinery forms part of Pertamina's Refinery Development Master Plan. Once the upgrade is completed, the refinery is expected to have the capacity to process 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It is designed to process Arabian crude to be provided by Saudi Aramco and to yield refined products that meet Euro V specifications, basic petrochemicals and Group II base oil for lubricants.

White & Case has advised Saudi Aramco on several similar large scale transactions in recent years, including the US$20 billion Sadara project, a world-scale integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia, and the US$8 billion expansion of the Petro Rabigh petrochemical complex at Rabigh, on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast.

White & Case has represented Saudi Aramco and its predecessor company, the Arabian American Oil Company, for more than half a century.

The Saudi Aramco legal team was led by Kevin Estis. The White & Case team was led by partners Steve Payne (Singapore) and Saul Daniel (London), with support from associates Yasuhiro (Taai) Izushima (Singapore), Yuri Kim and Ahyoung Koo (both London).