TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State oil company Pertamina denied that negligence has caused the oil spill incident in Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan. The company blamed the third party for damaging Pertamina's pipes which led to the oil leakage and contaminate the water.

"The news reports stating that Pertamina's oil pipes have leaked are not true. The pipes were damaged by a third party," said the company's attorney Otto Hasibuan on Thursday, April 26.

Otto also stated that Pertamina has been regularly maintaining the pipes with the help of professional experts. Thus, there is no possibility of leakage caused by Pertamina's negligence. "The pipes are in very decent condition," he said.

Read: A Chaotic Oil Cleanup at Balikpapan Bay

Otto alleged that the oil spill was caused by the broken pipes damaged by the MV Ever Judger Cargo Ship. He reasoned that it because the ship was in the area of the broken pipes during the incident. It was reinforced by the actions of the East Kalimantan Police that had seized the Panama-flagged ship due to the oil spill.

The incident began when the MV Ever Judger ship tethered its anchor to a Pertamina pipe near the Balikpapan RU V Refinery. The anchor was forcibly pulled by the ship so that the pipe bent approximately 120 meters from its original position. The pipe was broken to the shape of the letter V.

Read: Pertamina Denies Negligence over Oil Spill in Balikpapan

The tethered anchor is the negligence of the MV Ever Judger ship since Pertamina has put markers of the pipe location around the sea so that ships will not throw anchors. The markers include buoys and warning signs which can be seen on the map on ships.

"So there can be no reason that the ship did not know," Otto said.

ZARA AMELIA