Pertamina's oil pipeline in Indragiri Hulu stops operation

The pipeline used by the state owned oil company Pertamina to convey its oil from its oil field in Lirik district to the Buton port in the Indragiri Hulu regency in Riau province has totally stopped operation as certain sections of the pipeline have been blocked by frozen oil, Suara Karya reported on Friday.

The manager of the state oil company's operation unit in Lirik A Suhaidi said that the company had to use mobile tankers to transport the oil to the port, some 150 kilometers from the Lirik oil field.

He said that that the unit has not used the pipeline for at least a year, inflicting a higher transportation cost for the company. According to him, the interruption in the pipeline operation is not for the first time. In 1998, Pertamina had been also forced to use tankers to transport the oil to the port for at least one year also due the blockage of the facility by frozen oil.

Suhaidi said that besides the clogging problem, some part of the pipeline have also showed indications of leakage. "I think the pipeline should be replaced with the new ones to ensure the smooth transportation of the oil to the port," he added. (*)