Refinery Fire, Pertamina Urged to Ensure Sufficient Fuel Supply

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representatives Commission VII member Mulyanto asked Pertamina to ensure that the fire at the Balikpapan refinery would not affect the fulfillment of the demand for fuel oil (BBM). He asked Pertamina to secure the refinery and ensure the distribution of fuel to the people.

"Pertamina must ensure that fuel supplies do not decrease so that community activities are not disrupted," Mulyanto said in a written statement obtained by Tempo on Saturday, May 25.

The fire at Pertamina Balikpapan occurred on Saturday, May 25 at 07:30 Central Indonesia Time. General Manager of Pertamina International Refinery at the Balikpapan unit, Bayu Arafat, said there were no casualties in the incident. The fire also did not affect residents near the refinery as it happened in the refinery area, he added.

"We are also monitoring fuel production to ensure that supply to the community is not disrupted," Bayu said in the written statement.

This morning's fire at the Pertamina refinery in Balikpapan was not the first. Balikpapan refinery fire occurred twice in 2022, on Friday, March 4, and Sunday, May 15, 2022.

However, the most recent fire occurred after the Balikpapan refinery became the oil refinery with the largest capacity in Indonesia. This was after Pertamina increased the capacity or performed a Crude Distillation Unit (CDU IV) revamp.

The Balikpapan refinery now has a capacity of 360,000 barrels per day, up from 260,000 bpd. The new capacity exceeds the production capacity of the Cilacap refinery in Central Java, which is 345,000 bpd. 

The fire at Pertamina's Balikpapan refinery on Saturday added to the list of fire incidents at oil refineries owned by the state-owned company. Tempo recorded that Pertamina refineries caught fire several times, such as the fire at the Pertamina Dumai refinery in Riau on Sunday, February 16, which was denied by the company. Pertamina's spokesman at the time, Ali Mundakir, said that it was not the refinery that caught fire, but the refinery's heating system.

Then the fire at Pertamina Refinery Unit (RU) VI in Balongan, West Jawa, on Monday, March 29, 2021, at 00:45. Locals heard two explosions allegedly caused by the fire at the refinery, which has a capacity of 350,000 barrels.

Another incident occurred at Pertamina's Cilacap refinery in Central Java on Friday, June 11, 2021. The fire engulfed the T39 tank filled with benzene for basic petrochemical products. The Cilacap refinery caught fire again on Saturday night, November 13, 2021. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan suspects that the fire was caused by a rainstorm accompanied by lightning.

Riri Rahayu

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