Illustrative photo (Source: AFP/VNA)

Hanoi - Indonesia and Russia are set to work together on several projects, including a refinery project worth 16 billion USD, according to The Straits Times.

The newspaper quoted a senior Indonesian government official as saying that Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina and Russia's Rosneft Oil Company are going ahead with their project to build the refinery in the Indonesian province of East Java to produce fuel and raw materials for the petrochemical industry.

"The Russian party has been negotiating to get tax holidays. The project is still on track," the official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.

The two companies earlier formed a Jakarta-based joint venture, PT Pertamina Rosneft Pengolahan dan Petrokimia, which will manage East Java's New Grass Refinery Root (NGRR) in Tuban city and has an output of 229,000 barrels per day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Rosneft will contribute 45% of the total investment for the project and Pertamina will cover the rest.

Once completed, the project will greatly help Indonesia reduce its reliance on imported fuel, which has been rising in price.