DPR PAN Faction: Pertamina Directors Must Explain To Us The Causes Of The Fire At The Balongan Indramayu Refinery

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission VII DPR Eddy Soeparno asked PT Pertamina (Persero) to provide an explanation regarding the cause of the Balongan refinery fire in Indramayu, West Java, and immediately restore refinery operations so that fuel distribution runs smoothly.

"We ask Pertamina to immediately explain the cause of the fire in the vital object of the Balongan Refinery in Indramayu, and to immediately prepare steps to restore the refinery operations", said Eddy Soeparno in his statement in Jakarta, Monday.

Furthermore, Eddy said that his party would immediately summon the Pertamina Board of Directors to ask for an explanation regarding the chronology of the Balongan refinery fire.

"There must be preventive measures so that similar cases do not happen again", said Eddy.

Meanwhile, Corporate Secretary Subholding Refining Petrochemical PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional Ifki Sukarya said that the distribution activities of fuel oil supply for the community were not disrupted and continued well despite the Balongan refinery fire incident.

"With this incident, we ensure that the fuel supply to the public is not disrupted and is currently running normally", said Pertamina International Refining Petrochemical Subholding Corporate Secretary, Ifki Sukarya, in a statement in Jakarta, Monday.

As is known, the fire incident at the Balongan Refinery occurred at the T-301G tank at around 00.45 in the morning. At that time the weather conditions were heavy rain accompanied by lightning. The flames could be seen at a distance of five kilometers.

Hundreds of residents evacuated to a safe place away from the location of the fire. Those who fled were residents of Balongan Village, which is the village closest to the scene.

The details are currently about 200 residents who fled to the Pendopo Indramayu Regency, 400 residents at the Indramayu Islamic Center, and 350 residents at the Bumi Patra Housing Sports Hall.

When the incident occurred, Pertamina said four residents were passing by, so they suffered burns and were immediately referred for intensive care at the Indramayu Regional Hospital.

In helping with the blackout efforts, Pertamina brought in a Healthy Safety, Security and Environmental (HSSE) team from the closest refinery unit, namely the Cilacap Refinery, Exploration and Production Refinery, Plaju Refinery, and the Regional Disaster Management Agency in Indramayu.