Pertamina struggles to clear oil spill after tanker accident

State oil and gas company Pertamina were still struggling to clear the crude oil spilt by the King Fisher tanker that hit a coral reef in the Cilacap area, south of Central Java Saturday afternono, several newspapers reported.

Thousands of local fishermen have been hired by the state company to clear the oil spill that have covered ten kilometers of coastline at the Cilacap gulf. They received Rp 30,000 per person per day in fee from the state company, the papers said.

Kompas reported fears have been growing that the oil spill would impact the lives in the area as many fish and birds were found dead along the coast.

The Malta-flagged tanker carrying 600,000 Sumatra Light Crude and Attaka crude oil hit the reef near the Nusakambangan Island on its way to Pertamina's refinery in Cilacap.

Refinery general manager AA Junaedy was quoted by Kompas as saying on Tuesday that prior to the accident, the captain of the tanker had been warned by a crew member of the tug boat that guided the tanker to the nearby port not to force the tanker to pass the reef as it was only 12 meters deep, while the tanker has a draft of 14 meters.

But, the captain did not pay attention to the warning, he said.

Junaedy said about 1,000 barrels of crude oil were believed to have been spilt into the water after the reef broke the side of the tanker.

Junaedy said the owner of the tanker in Singapore would soon arrive to handle the case.

He said the accident would not affect fuel production at the Cilacap refinery since Pertamina had sent another tanker to carry crude oil for the refinery. The Cilacap refinery is the main supplier of fuel to Jakarta and other areas in Java.

Meanwhile, Suara Merdeka reported the local authorities were calculating the losses caused by the oil spill on the area and would demand Pertamina pay compensation. (*)