Balikpapan II fuel refinery operates again after fire

The Balikpapan II refinery plant, part of which was caught on fire and exploded on Monday, started to operate again on Tuesday at about 5:00 p.m. local time, with production capacity reaching 65 percent of its maximum capacity of 200,000 barrels of fuels per day.

The general manager of state oil and gas firm Pertamina's Unit V Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Syahril Hamzah, told journalists in Balikpapan on Tuesday that the refinery plant would improve its production capacity to 80 percent in the next two days, or 175,000 barrels of fuels per day.

Syahrial said that the explosion destroyed about 30 percent of the refinery's components, but the main components such as continuous catalytic regenerator (CCR), heater and compressor were unaffected and remained in good condition.

According to results of initial investigation, Syahril said, the fire was caused by leakage in a overhead condenser pipe because of corrosion.

"Our investigation is restricted on technical matter. As for non-technical problems, such as allegations of sabotage, that would be handled by the police," he said.

Meanwhile Pertamina spokesman Toto Soeparto told Kompas in Jakarta on Tuesday that the company had got commitment from Singapore to process Indonesia's crude into fuels so that domestic fuel supplies would be secured following the explosion in Balikpapan II refinery plant and the breakdown in the fuel piping network in Belawan port in Medan, North Sumatra.

Toto said initial investigation showed that the fuel piping line in Belawan was accidentally hit by KM Selat Emas vessel that was trying to berth at the port.

Because of the explosion in Balikpapan and the breakdown in the piping line in Medan, people in a number of areas went panic and began lining at gas stations. Scenes of long lines at gas stations were especially seen in a number of areas in East Java and in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, premix fuels had been getting scarcer lately. The head of Pertamina's Storage and Domestic Marketing Unit III, Tuty Anggrahini, admitted that supplies of premix to Jakarta were reduced because of the recent breakdown in the Balongan refinery in West Java.

However, Tuty said, a fuel tanker from Singapore berthed in Jakarta on Monday, and unloaded 23,332 kilo liters of fuels, of which 6,000 kilo liters would be processed into premix. She said supplies of premix for Jakarta would soon return to normal. (*)