Keep Fuel Supply, DPR Asks Pertamina To Optimize Refinery After Balongan Fire

PERTAMINA/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Commission VII of the House of Representatives asked PT Pertamina (Persero) to optimize domestic refineries to maintain the stability of fuel supply after the fire incident of four tanks of Balongan Refinery, Indramayu.

Chairman of Commission VII of the House of Representatives Sugeng Suparwoto said that with the optimization of the refinery, Pertamina does not need to increase fuel supply from abroad.

"Despite the incident at the T-301 tank of Balongan Refinery, Pertamina will not increase fuel imports, with that effort", said Sugeng in his statement, Friday, April 9.

Sugeng spoke about the specific visit of Commission VII to Balongan Refinery in Indramayu, West Java, Thursday, April 8. The council wants to ensure the national fuel stock is in safe condition.

From the visit, members of the House of Representatives obtained a comprehensive picture of conceptual data from empirical conditions in the field.

"This will be the material in conducting surveillance properly and accurately, precisely, and finding solutions", said NasDem politicians.

Previously, President Director of Pertamina Nicke Widyawati, said that the company continues to strive and guarantee the supply of fuel, avtur, and lpji by optimizing domestic refineries since the beginning of the fire. These include Cilacap Refinery and Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) Refinery.

"The next step is the reactivation and recovery of the refinery because the burning is a tank only, the refinery is no problem. We will soon reactivate Balongan Refinery", said Nicke.

In ensuring the national fuel supply, Pertamina encouraged the increase of Cilacap Refinery production by 300 thousand barrels per hour (bph) and TPPI Refinery by 500 thousand bph.

In fact, said Nicke, Cilacap Refinery has made the first shipment of pertalite products as much as 200 thousand barrels by sea, Monday, April 5, to supply energy needs in Jabodetabek (Jakarta and its surroundings) areas as part of the fuel supply transfer scheme. Along with the operation of Balongan Refinery due to fire incidents.