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A fatal fire broke out at Indonesian state-owned refiner Pertamina's Plumpang integrated fuel terminal in Jakarta on 3 March.
The fire occurred at around 8pm Indonesia time (13:00 GMT) and has so far resulted in 18 fatalities, Pertamina's chief executive Nicke Widyawati said.
The cause of the explosion has not been determined. But a technical issue happened while transporting Pertamax, a 92R gasoline grade, from Balongan that caused some "overpressure", said national police chief general Listyo Sigit Prabowo. Pertamina operates a 125,000 b/d refinery at Balongan in west Java.
Pertamina has teamed up with its downstream arm Pertamina Patra Niaga and law enforcement officials to investigate the cause, the company said on the day of the accident.
Pertamina will ensure fuel supplies by using back-up supplies from its other terminals, namely Tanjung Gerem, Cikampek and Ujung Berung. Fuel supplies are also secured through its Cilacap and Balongan refineries, it said. Fuel inventories in Jakarta, Banten and west Java are sufficient and there is no need to panic buy, Widyawati added.
A pipeline from Balongan to Jakarta was affected by the incident, with the main oil product affected being gasoline, sources close to Pertamina said. The firm might expedite its gasoline import schedule with volumes to be decided by 6 March, a market participant added.
Pertamina's internal supply and distribution team should be rearranging the supply schedule to prevent a tank-top situation in Balongan and could also distribute fuel via truck, another participant said.
"We will carry out a comprehensive evaluation and reflection internally to prevent similar incidents from happening again," Widyawati said.
"I will make sure the investigation goes optimally," the country's minister of state-owned enterprises Erick Thohir said on Twitter. "There should be an operational evaluation."
Indonesian President Joko Widodo described the Plumpang fuel terminal area as a danger zone, on local channel KompasTV, as he called for an audit and evaluation of similar facilities.
Gasoline prices have already risen in response, although Pertamina told a term gasoline supplier that there has not been much of an impact. The April and May 92R time spread was assessed at $1.30/bl in backwardation on 3 March but was assessed at around $1.65/bl in backwardation by brokers on 6 March. The balance March and April spreads have also risen to around $1/bl in backwardation from $0.80/bl on 3 March.
The fire came at a time when stockpiling efforts were under way to meet peak driving demand during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which runs from 22 March to 21 April. Pertamina was expected to increase its buying in March to around 11mn bl from 9mn-10mn bl in February, said traders.
