Muba assesses impact of fire at Exspan?s pipeline

The authority of the Musi Banyuasin (Muba) regency in South Sumatra is assessing the impact of a fire resulting from the leakage of Exspan?s oil pipeline in the regency?s Lai district, Sumatera Ekspres reported on Monday.

The secretary of the regency, Harun Al-Rasyid, said at his office on Saturday that the local authority had established a special team to calculate the material losses resulting from the fire. "We don?t want to become merely as victims, Exspan should be responsible," he was quoted as saying.

Exspan Nusantara said early last week that it had agreed to pay compensation to victims and damages caused by the fire which took place after thieves out a valve in the pipeline.

The pipeline leaked and later caused a big fire after thieves took out a valve in the pipeline. The fire damaged hectares of plantations and killed four villagers. "Although the fire resulted from the works of criminals we will be fully responsible," Budi, the director of PT Exspan Nusantara told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference Pertamina?s director for upstream operation Iin Arifin Takhyan, a director of Exspan, Budi ,said that besides giving cash as the compensation for the damages caused by the fire, the company was also responsible to provide medical treatment for the victims. (*)