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Pertamina says Cilacap operations unaffected by fire

  • : Oil products
  • 21/11/14

A fire that broke out at a storage tank at Indonesian state-owned Pertamina's 348,000 b/d Cilacap plant in central Java on 13 November left no lasting impact on operations, the company said today after the fire was extinguished.

The fire, which began yesterday at 7:20pm local time (12:20 GMT), was put out this morning at 7:45am, Pertamina said, adding that the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Djoko Priyono, the chief executive of Pertamina's refining and petrochemical arm, said the refinery itself did not sustain any damage, and that production acitivites had not been disrupted as a result.

"During the incident...the entire operation of the Cilacap Refinery was running normally," Djoko said. "There was no disruption because we could seal the tank so that all operations could continue as usual."

Stocks across Indonesia are well maintained and secured, according to the chief executive of Pertamina's commercial and trading arm Alfian Nasution. Current stocks of Premium gasoline are sufficient to cover 27 days of domestic consumption, while the stocks of Pertamax, Pertalite, and Pertamax Turbo gasoline is sufficient to cover 15, 10 and 50 days of consumption, respectively, the company said. Stocks of diesel and jet fuel are sufficient to cover 20 and 35 days of consumption, respectively, and LPG to cover 12.7 days.

"Please don't panic buy because the stock is very safe," chief executive of Pertamina Nicke Widyawati said. "Some of these product stocks are above the minimum [required levels]."

Pertamina five gasoline types — Premium, Pertalite, Pertamax, Pertamax Turbo and Pertamax Racing —have a minimum Ron rating of 88, 90, 92, 98 and 100 respectively.

The incident comes at a time when Indonesia is looking to buy more high-sulphur gasoil and ultra-low sulphur diesel through spot tenders to cater for a pick up in domestic demand for use in power generation.

This is the second such incident to befall the Cilacap complex this year and a fire broke out at a storage tank containing benzene at the plant on 11 June. Cilacap, is one of six refineries run by Pertamina and supplies around 34pc of domestic demand.


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