Indonesia's Pertamina refinery fire gains strength again

Indonesia's Pertamina refinery fire gains strength again

2011-04-06 19:14:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- The Pertamina refinery fire in Indonesia is again burning one of its tanks after it had been temporarily contained, the refinery said Wednesday.

Spokesman for the state-owned oil company Harun told Indonesia's Antara news agency that flames burning tank 31 T-7 began to light up again at around 12 p.m. local time, around 24 hours after they had been contained.

Last Saturday, at around 5 a.m. local time, a fire broke out at the Pertamina refinery in Cilacap, Central Java, after an explosion at the refinery's 31 T-2 tank, which contains high octane motor-gasoline component.

Following the explosion in the refinery's unit IV, tank 31 T-2 was completely destroyed, and two other tanks caught fire, 31 T-3 and 31 T-7, which contain naphtha.

Emergency crews faced further challenges on Monday after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Cilacap, but the earthquake reportedly did not damage the refinery.

Authorities are carrying out ongoing investigations to determine the cause of the explosion and subsequent fire, but while Indonesian State Enterprise Minister Mustafa Abubakar has admitted the tanks were old, he refused to consider this as the reason of the fire, explaining that the age of the tanks does not determine their usability.

One of the methods used to contain the fire has been the use of foam and water to isolate the flames, but on Wednesday, strong winds caused the hot liquid in the tank to break the foam that had been covering it.

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