Indonesia's Pertamina refinery fire extinguished, no plan to import extra fuel

Indonesia's Pertamina refinery fire extinguished, no plan to import extra fuel

2011-04-07 21:12:19 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- The Pertamina refinery fire in Indonesia was completely put out, five days after the initial explosion that began burning the refinery's fuel tanks.

Firefighters were able to completely put out the fire on Wednesday although black smoke was still reportedly seen coming out of the 31 T-7 tank.

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.

On Tuesday, reports indicated that the fire had been put out, but later on Wednesday, the fire began burning tank 31 T-7 again.

Indonesia's Forensic Laboratory Center will be carrying out investigations to determine the cause of the explosion and subsequent fire as soon as conditions are declared safe.

Indonesian State Enterprise Minister Mustafa Abubakar, meanwhile, has admitted the tanks were old but refused to consider this as the reason of the fire, explaining that the age of the tanks does not determine their usability.

Despite the heavy damages, Pertamina marketing director Djaelani Sutomo said the oil company would not make any additional imports.

Pertamina president director Karen Agustiawan previously stated that the it imports approximately 600,000 to 700,000 kiloliters of low-octane fuel each month to help meet domestic demand, while its annual imports amount to 10.28 million kiloliters of low-octane fuel and 4.23 million kiloliters of high-octane fuel.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-07