Pertamina EP will stop crude supply on rampant theft
Friday, June 29 2012 - 04:01 AM WIB
PR Relations Manager Agus Amperianto said that the supply would be stopped starting next Monday in a four-day span. ?We can no longer tolerate our crude being stolen in that lane,? he said on Thursday as reported by Kompas.
The Tempino-Plaju lane supplies 11,000 bopd to Pertamina?s refinery in Plaju, Palembang, South Sumatra. The lane consists of Tempino-Bentayan and Bentayan-Plaju pipelines. In the refinery, the crude is processed into oil fuels for the public and also jet fuel, or avtur.
Agus added that while the frequency has been lower in the past five days, crude got stolen in the lane remained aplenty, amounting to 980 barrels last Wednesday. Before, an average of 3,000 barrels of crude per day was stolen.
Head of Operation for southern Sumatra at upstream authority BPMIGAS Gunawan Budi Priyono said that the illegal practice has been hard to eradicate as it mostly involved people living in surrounding areas. He advised the company to conduct a persuasive approach to the local community in handling the issue to avoid direct conflicts. (*)