The cause of Balongan refinery break-down still mysterious
Tuesday, September 5 2000 - 02:30 AM WIB
The cause of the recent breakdown of the Balongan refinery plant in West Java is still mysterious. Pertamina, the owner of the refinery plant, could not yet confirm what caused the breakdown.
The head of Balongan refinery plant, Asyhab, only said that the plant had often experienced "top" situation, in which the load of the plant had reached its maximum level, and therefore causes thermal stress and overheated. Since it's launching in 1995, the Balongan refinery plant had reached "top" situation eleven times.
But when pressed further on what really caused the recent breakdown, that resulted in the fuel scarcity in Jakarta, Asyhab said: "I don't know."
Balongan supplies around 75 percent of fuel demands in the capital city of Jakarta.
It is suspected that fuels produced by Balongan are still very unhealthy for the people.
According to a report by UNDP which was quoted by Indonesia's Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bappedal) in its "Agenda 21" book, fuels distributed in Jakarta contained around 60 microgram s of leads per cubic - far higher than the safe level.
According to WHO, leaded gasoline with lead level of 1 microgram/m3 could cause IQ defects. (godang)