'Cilacap fire won't affect domestic supplies'

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): The president of state-owned oil company Pertamina, Faisal Abda'oe, said here yesterday that the damage to seven oil storage tanks in Cilacap, on the southern coast of Central Java and the shutdown of the Cilacap refinery following the fire would not affect domestic fuel oil supplies.

"The shutdown of the Cilacap refinery will not affect fuel supplies at the moment because we have enough stocks," Abda'oe told reporters after signing an LNG sale contract with the Chinese Petroleum Corporation of Taiwan.

As of yesterday afternoon the tanks, hit by a lightning bolt on Tuesday at about 5:20 p.m., were still ablaze and three of them had been totally destroyed.

Thousands of residents and 400 Pertamina employees have been evacuated from their homes. They are being sheltered at the Town Hall, the regency office and other public buildings. The local administration and Pertamina have opened public kitchens for the evacuees.

No casualties have been reported, while the Pertamina's director of processing, GJ Atihuta, told reporters in Cilacap that the material losses of the tanks alone are estimated at Rp 28 billion (US$12.27 million).

Coordinating Minister of Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman and Abda'oe inspected the damage yesterday.

Asked about the time needed to repair the refinery, Abda'oe said Pertamina had first to set up a team to evaluate the damage.

"We had better wait for the evaluation," he said.

Meanwhile Atihuta said that production will start again a week before supplies are exhausted.

He said stocks for domestic needs are still enough for 32 days. For Java, stocks will last seven to eight days, he said.

Atihuta said the Cilacap refinery supplies 34 percent of domestic needs.

Abda'oe said that the domestic fuel demand will be supplied from Pertamina's refineries in Plaju, South Sumatra, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and Balongan, West Java.

Atihuta said further that firefighters were only able to prevent the fire from spreading. The fire will be subdued when the oil in the tanks is exhausted, he said.

He said the fire was not caused by a human error.

"It was purely an accident," he said.

Meanwhile, Pertamina's shipping director Kartioso said that the refinery has no supply commitments to foreign buyers.

The Cilacap refinery, which has two units -- one with a daily refining capacity of 100,000 barrels and the other with 200,000 barrels -- is Pertamina's biggest refinery.

The refining capacity of the oil company is now 985,000 barrels per day.

"But part of the kerosene and automotive diesel oil for domestic consumption is imported from Singapore," he said.

The privately-owned RCTI TV station said yesterday that the fire is the third that has occurred at the Cilacap refinery.

In 1983 a fire broke out after the refinery was struck by lightning, and another fire in 1986 killed six people. The 1986 fire was attributed to a spark from a nearby welding shop. (04/wah/anr)