Cilacap refinery to resume operation in a week

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina will need a week to resume the operation of the Cilacap refinery which has been partly shut down following a fire which hit the plant?s second crude distillation unit on Wednesday.

Pertamina?s Corporate Secretary Toharso said on Thursday that the two pipes at the Crude Distilliation Unit (CDU) 2 whose furnace caught a fire Wednesday morning should be replaced to enable the refinery to fully operate.

The Cilacap refinery is the country?s biggest refinery with a capacity of 348,000 barrels a day.

Pertamina?s marketing director Achmad Faisal said that the stoppage of the Cilacap refinery operation would not cause a fuel shortage. ?The existing fuel stock is sufficient enough to cope with the decline in the fuel supply during the maintenance of the Cilacap refinery,? he said.

However, Tubagus Haryono, the head of downstream oil and gas regulator BPH Migas, said that the agency planned to import fuel to anticipate a shortage of the fuel supply due to the halt in the Cilacap refinery operation.

?Pertamina plans to import one or two cargoes of diesel oil and Premium gasoline,? he said. One cargo is equal to about 200,000 barrels.(godang)