Operational Of 13 Pertamina Balikpapan Refinery Plant Units Runs Normal, Small Fuel Import Potential

Pertamina's oil refinery in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, caught fire. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Energy Watch Executive Director Mamit Setiawan said 13 of the 14 plant units at the Balikpapan Refinery were operating normally.

This will reduce the potential for imports of fuel oil (BBM).

"The potential for imports is very small. Moreover, for the recovery of Plant 5 (which was disrupted), Pertamina has stated that it will be completed within seven days," Mamit said as quoted by Antara, Wednesday.

Mamit said that the fire incident at the Balikpapan Refinery only disrupted the operations of the Plant 5 unit.

The Plant 5 tank, he continued, does not contain fuel, but the raw material for Pertamax, namely High Octane Mogas Component (HOMC).

Mamit said that the repair of Plant 5 would take seven days. However, Pertamina still has fuel reserves for the next 20 days.

"In my opinion, these reserves can still be optimized to ensure the availability of fuel. And this is done without going through additional imports. Moreover, Pertamax's sales volume is not the largest, only around 13 percent," he said.

In addition to stock reserves, he continued, Pertamina also has the Balongan and Cilacap refineries which can still be optimized for domestic production.

Even though one unit does not operate in Balikpapan, it will not necessarily make Pertamina import.

"So the important thing is to optimize domestically first," he said.

Regarding the recovery plan within seven days, Mamit believes Pertamina is capable of doing that.

This is because Pertamina has certainly taken into account carefully, including the provision of equipment, as well as vendors carrying out these repairs.

In fact, the mechanism can also be accelerated when the position is urgent. In this case, there may be additional time or labor.

"Perhaps if previously only worked one shift, now it can be increased to three shifts. So, if Pertamina can fulfill the seven-day repair, then the potential for imports is very small," he said.