By Joko Sutopo, President Director of Sulzer Services (Indonesia)
As the world rapidly transitions toward a low-carbon future, the pressure is mounting for fossil-fuel-dependent economies to adapt. For Indonesia, with its vast oil and gas reserves, the challenge is particularly pressing. While upstream extraction often dominates discussions, the downstream sector—where crude oil is refined, processed, and distributed—plays an equally crucial role. The challenge lies in Indonesia’s aging infrastructure.
So, while the global energy transition is urgent, the question facing Indonesia’s oil and gas players is clear: how can existing downstream infrastructure increase efficiency, productivity and reduce carbon emissions without abandoning the valuable assets already in place?
The Need for Modernization in Indonesia’s Downstream Sector
Indonesia’s downstream oil and gas infrastructure, including refineries, pipelines, and processing facilities, is critical to the nation’s energy security. Yet, much of this infrastructure—decades-old refineries like Cilacap and Balikpapan—relies on rotating equipment such as pumps, compressors, and turbines that have long passed their intended lifespans. Such equipment is essential for the refining, transportation, and distribution of petroleum products, but their outdated design and components contribute to inefficiencies, higher operational costs, and increased emissions.
Rather than discarding aging infrastructure and undertaking expensive replacements, re-rating, reverse engineering, retrofits and repairs can bring new life to existing assets, ensuring that the equipment meets modern performance standards and complies with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Re-Rating Pumps and Turbomachinery for Greater Efficiency
Re-rating is a method of adjusting the operating parameters of existing equipment, such as pumps and compressors, to improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption. This process involves reassessing design specifications and making modifications to accommodate changing operational needs or to meet stricter environmental standards.
For instance, centrifugal pumps, widely used in refineries and pipelines to process crude oil and refined products, can be re-rated to operate at lower energy intensities or to handle new, lower-carbon fuels such as biofuels. This type of optimization allows the pumps to meet the demands of more energy-efficient processes without requiring a complete overhaul or replacement.
In the context of Indonesia, where refining capacity must align with rising fuel demand while also adhering to new fuel quality standards, re-rating provides a practical and cost-effective solution—avoiding capital expenditure for new capital equipment, increasing efficiency, reducing emissions, and lowering operational costs—while utilizing existing assets.
Retrofitting: Overcoming OEM shortfalls
Many pieces of equipment in Indonesia’s downstream oil and gas sector, from pumps to compressors, are no longer supported by their original manufacturers due to obsolescence. This is where retrofitting becomes essential. Retrofitting involves analyzing the original design of outdated equipment and creating modern replacements or enhancements that perform at higher efficiencies or are more durable.
An independent service provider with a localised footprint, deep expertise and a service-focused set-up will be able to offer highly responsive engineering services equivalent to those offered by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Often, OEMs have manufacturing-first set-ups with less resources to cater for aftermarket services typically after warranties expire.
For example, a refinery may rely on legacy compressors that were built decades ago and have since lost OEM support with discontinued spare parts and servicing. By leveraging the expertise of a highly competent independent rotating equipment service provider, it’s possible to recreate them with updated materials and design improvements, increasing their operational efficiency and extending their useful life. This method allows companies to avoid significant costs and downtime associated with acquiring and installing entirely new equipment, as well as longer lead times associated with OEM support.
Retrofitting also keeps resources in circulation for longer, reducing waste and minimizing the carbon footprint associated with new production.
Strategic Repairs and Retrofits: Extending Equipment Life While Reducing Emissions
Repairs and retrofits of aging pumps, compressors, and turbomachinery offer a third path to efficiency gains in Indonesia’s downstream sector. Pumps, for example, are integral to the processing of crude oil and refined products through Indonesia’s pipeline network, but over time, they become susceptible to issues like cavitation, corrosion, and leakage. Targeted repairs—such as upgrading pump cartridges and impellers—can restore these machines to their peak performance and extend their lifecycles, minimizing leaks and improving overall reliability—cutting down on both energy consumption and supply chain emissions,
Retrofits, on the other hand, involve upgrading existing equipment with modern technologies to improve their performance. In refineries, replacing outdated valve systems, upgrading their turbines or compressors with more advanced sealing systems, or embarking on re-rates to adapt to changing process requirements can yield significant efficiency and performance gains. These improvements reduce the energy required to operate the facility and improve process reliability, both of which are critical for minimizing unplanned downtime and reducing the carbon intensity of operations.
For instance, by retrofitting turbines used in gas or steam compression and power generation with modern sealing and blade designs, operators can achieve higher efficiencies, reduce fuel consumption, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. In Indonesia’s case, where energy demand is rising and sustainability targets are becoming more stringent, these retrofits offer a way to modernize the sector without disrupting ongoing operations.
A Path Toward Low-Carbon Operations
As Indonesia continues its energy transition, the downstream oil and gas sector faces immense pressure to become more sustainable. However, the country’s reliance on aging infrastructure should not be seen as a liability. Instead, it presents an opportunity to modernize through the cost-effective methods of re-rating, reverse engineering, and strategic repairs. By focusing on efficiency improvements through these engineering solutions, Indonesia can make its downstream processes more sustainable, demonstrating that even the oldest infrastructure can be part of a low-carbon future.
