Tanker carrying Pertamina?s oil hijacked

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina said that production at its oil refineries would not be disrupted by the hijacking of a Greece tanker while on its journey carrying its crude oil to Balikpapan refinery, East Kalimantan.

?It won?t disrupt our national production. Production at Balikpapan refinery will continue at normal capacity as Pertamina has a good system of backup reserve. It can be used in place of the hijacked crude oil,? Pertamina Vice President for Corporate Communication, Mochamad Harun said in Jakarta on Friday.

He was quoted by Kompas as saying that his company had been informed of the hijacking of the tanker which was carrying Pertamina's Azeri crude oil..

He pointed out that financially the hijacking would not cause any loss to Pertamina as the hijacked crude oil is protected with insurance while being transported. ?The oil tanker was hijacked while still on its journey to Balikpapan. So the cargoe is protected with insurance,? he added.

The Greece tanker, MT Smyrni, was hijacked by Somalian pirates on Arab Sea, offshore Oman. It was carrying 950,000 barrels of Azeri crude oil from Azerbaijan, Central Asia.

Reuters reported that according to the tanker operational manager, the tanker which was carrying 135,000 metric tons of crude oil, or about 1 million barrels, was hijacked on Arab Sea, offshore Oman.

The management of Dynacom Tankers, the owner of the tanker, stated that they lost contact with the tanker after the hijacking at 14.15 local time or 18.15 western Indonesian time on Thursday. It gave no further details. But Andrew Mwangura, a pirate observer in Kenya, said that the tanker was now sailing toward Somalia coast at the Horn of Africa.(*)