Pertamina manages to put out fire at leaking pipeline in West Java

By Godang Sitompul

State-oil and gas firm PT Pertamina has managed to put out fire at a leaking crude pipeline in Tasikmalaya, West Java, apparently caused by thieves trying to illegally tap oil from the facility.

?Thank God, the fire could be put out at 10.40 p.m., and currently the cooling process is still on going. This morning we?ll check the pipe again,? Vice President for Communications of Pertamina, Ali Mundakir told Petromindo.com Wednesday. ?Because the duration of the fire incident is not too long, hopefully, the pipe is still in good condition, so that the leak could be fixed only by applying clamp.?

Ali explained that Pertamina found a leak at the pipeline, located in Maribaya Village in Tasikmalaya, about 15 Km from the Tasikmalaya fuel terminal, Tuesday morning. The leak was suspected to be caused by thieves trying to plunder oil from the pipeline facility. Before a fix to the leak could be done, as local people started to collect the spilled oil, a fire incident suddenly occurred.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak