Pertamina puts out fire at Cilacap refinery complex

By Godang Sitompul

A fire incident occurred at around 12 noon on Wednesday at the Cilacap refinery complex in Central Java, but no casualties were reported as state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina managed to quickly put off the fire.

Pertamina Vice President for Corporate Communications Wianda Pusponegoro told Petromindo.com that the fire came from an overheat asphalt tank, not from the refinery.

Antaranews reported that residents in Cilacap were startled by an explosion sound, followed with black smoke coming from the Cilacap refinery complex.

?Several residents around (the refinery complex) were briefly panicked due to the explosion and black smoke,? local resident Riyadi told the news portal.

Head of Communications and Relations at Pertamina Refinery Unit IV in Cilacap, Ristanto Heru Widodo was quoted by Antara as saying that the fire came from a small asphalt tank at the refinery complex area. The company is still investigating the cause of the fire incident, which he said did not affect fuel production at the refinery complex.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak