Update-Pertamina says Kuwait refinery fire wont affect gasoil supply

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina said gasoil import from Kuwait would not be disturbed as it had received assurance from Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) that the refineries would be operating normally soon.

“The fire only caught the refineries’ power plant, and KPC had told us that they will soon assign a back-up power plant to resume refinery operations,” said Dwi kushartoyo, Pertamina deputy director for refinery told Petromindo.Com Wednesday.

Dow Jones, quoting KPC sources reported on Tuesday that fires broke out at two of Kuwait’s three refineries late on Monday and they will stop output for at least one week.

Indonesia imports 240,000 metric tons of gasoil, or 50 percent of its monthly requirement, from Kuwait on a term basis.

The wire said the incident will make Pertamina face problems in getting gasoil from Kuwait in the short term and may turn to the bullish spot market to meet any supply shortfall.

The sources at KPC foresee shortfalls in the supply of naphtha and middle distillates particularly gasoil as a result of the unplanned refinery outages, and disruption to the company's export program.

The fires were sparked by a fire at a power generator. It is still unclear whether they have been extinguished.

Sources said it will take 2-3 days for KPC to assess the damage, and normal refinery operations will resume within 3 days in the best-case scenario at one of the three refineries, and longer if the damage is extensive. (godang)