Indonesia’s Balongan refinery closed after massive fire breakout

Indonesian state-owned oil company Pertamina has shut its Balongan refinery in West Java following a massive fire breakout and explosion, which injured five people.

The company closed the 125,000 barrels per day refinery to put out the fire and evacuated about 950 nearby residents, reported Reuters.

Pertamina was cited by the news agency as saying that the fire broke out amid bad weather and that the company is undertaking ‘oil flow control’ to prevent further spread.

The firm noted: “The cause of the fire is unknown, but during the incident there was heavy rain and lightning.”

The fire erupted in the refinery’s storage units, with the processing plant remaining unaffected, Pertamina said.

The Balongan refinery processes crude oil from the Duri and Minas fields in Riau province. It supplies fuel to Jakarta and the western regions of Java island.

Police spokesman Erdi Chaniago told Reuters that West Java police will carry out a probe into the cause of the accident at the refinery.

Pertamina CEO Nicke Widyawati said: “We are securing the location at the moment, since the fire is still going. We can’t examine the scene yet, cooling down needed to be conducted first by Pertamina.”

As per the Refinitiv Eikon shipping data, the refinery is due to receive about 600,000 barrels of Rabi crude on April 10 from Gabon onboard tanker Aristodimos.

Widyawati was cited by the news agency as saying: “The main equipment at the refinery is not affected.

“We hope the plant can be operational again soon after we put out the fire so there are no disruptions to supply.”

Pertamina director Mulyono told the media briefing that the firm plans to restore operations at the refinery in four to five days.