Indonesia’s national oil company (NOC) Pertamina said yesterday that it had extinguished a fire at its Cilacap refinery in Central Java.
The fire started on 11 June near the bundwall area and benzene containers. 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, reported Reuters. Supplies from the refinery have not been effected.
Pertamina official Djoko Priyono said in a statement that the fire had been extinguished on yesterday morning and a cooling process was underway.
“Everything is in a good condition and extinguished,” he said, adding that supplies of LPG and fuel were not disrupted.
A Pertamina spokesperson said that an internal investigation into the cause of the fire was being carried out.
Refinery fires appear to be a common issue for Pertamina. This was the second recent fire at a Pertamina refinery after its Balongan refinery in West Java caught fire in March.
Indonesia’s Balongan refinery, one of six operated by Pertamina, contributes about 12% of Indonesia’s petroleum refining capacity, or 125,000 barrels a day.
The Balongan refinery has caught fire three times in recent years — in 2007, 2019 and most damagingly in March 2021, reported East Asia Forum. According to Pertamina, four of the refinery’s 72 tanks caught fire. Though three were mostly empty, one held a significant volume of oil. As a result of the small volume of oil in the tanks, the refinery and its surroundings were spared even greater damage than might otherwise have occurred.