Pertamina builds floating storage in Kalimantan

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina has built a floating storage near Sampit, Central Kalimantan to speed up the distribution of fuel to all parts of Kalimantan, Kompas reported on Wednesday.

Iqbal Hasan, the general manager of Pertamina's Marketing Unit V which is responsible for the distribution of fuel in Kalimantan said in Banjarmasin on Tuesday that the floating storage was in the form of a large tanker with a capacity of 35,000 deadweight tons.

He said that Pertamina would also operate a number of smaller tankers with a capacity of between 1,500 DWT and 3,500 DWT to distribute the fuel to South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan.

"East Kalimantan will continue to receive a fuel supply from the Balikpapan refinery plant," he said after receiving ISO 14000 environmental certification for the Banajarmasin fuel storage from Det Norske Veritas.

With the operation of the floating storage, he hoped there would no more problem with the supply of fuel in the future especially during the Idulfitri holidays. (*)