Govt steps up security in Pertamina's refineries

The government has asked military and police to step up security at all refineries across the country on fear of sabotage, following two incidents at refinery in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and the fuel storage in Belawan, North Sumatera owned by state oil and gas company Pertamina. "The Mines and Energy ministry has asked for help from the military and police to increase security at all Pertamina's refineries and vital installations in the of the possibility of sabotage", Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim told reporters on Monday.

An explosion followed by fire hit the Balikpapan refinery on Monday forcing Pertamina to shut down one of the two production units at the refinery.

Baihaki did not provide detail on the cause of explosion but he said a platformer unit with the capacity of 20,000 bpd caught fire at 06.50 AM. Pertamina could extinguish the fire at 08.05AM.

Another incident hit Pertamina's Citra Jetty fuel storage facility at the Belawan port when a cargo ship collided with the fuel storage at 01.35 PM on Sunday. " The two incidents took place within 24 hours. We don't rule out the possibility of sabotage behind the incident", Baihaki said. (*)