Cause of fire at Java plant is unknown and internal investigation has been launched
A fire at an oil refinery owned by Indonesia’s Pertamina at Cilacap, Central Java, was ablaze over the weekend, the CEO of the state energy firm said late on Saturday, although she added it wouldn’t impact the plant’s operations.
Fire broke out at the refinery late on Friday. Television footage showed a large blaze and smoke rising from the refinery, which Pertamina said has 200 oil tanks and has a processing capacity of 348,000 barrels a day.
In a statement, Pertamina chief Nicke Widyawati said an emergency team was still trying to extinguish the fire near an area with unfinished benzene containers. She said she instructed the team to isolate the area to keep the fire from spreading.
“It’s only a matter of time and how the handling needs to be more offensive,” Nicke said, adding that supplies of fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) would not be disrupted.
Separately, Pertamina’s spokesperson said the cause of the fire was unknown and an internal investigation was ongoing.
This was the second time this year fire had struck one of Pertamina’s refineries. In March, a massive blaze broke out in its Balongan oil refinery in West Java.
