Pertamina Tank Burns Again, PPP: Can't Be Considered An Ordinary Event, Needs Quality Investigative Audit

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives from the United Development Party (PPP) faction, Achmad Baidowi, said the tank fire in the PT Refinery Pertamina International (KPI) refinery area in Cilacap Unit, Central Java, must continue with the audit and investigation process. This is not the first time something like this has happened.

"This refinery fire is not the first time, but it has been repeated and cannot be considered as an ordinary incident," Baidowi said in a written statement to reporters, Sunday, November 14.

Audits and investigations, continued Baidowi, must be carried out on the quality of the tanks used in oil refineries so that similar incidents do not happen again.

"It is necessary to carry out an investigative audit of the quality of the storage tanks of refineries, not only in Cilacap, considering that similar incidents have also occurred in other places such as Balongan and other places," he stressed.

After the audit and investigation has been carried out, Pertamina must then take corrective and anticipatory steps. Thus, oil tank fires no longer occur.

Furthermore, after the fire, Baidowi also asked Pertamina to ensure that the fuel supply for the community was not disrupted.

In the future, the PPP faction proposes that Commission VI hold a Working Committee Meeting (Panja). It is intended that the problem of repeated refinery tank fires can be discussed comprehensively.

"To oversee this issue, the PPP faction proposed a Panja in Commission VI to be able to discuss it comprehensively," said Baidowi.

As previously reported, a fire broke out in the tank containing Pertalite on Saturday, November 13 at around 19.20 WIB and was successfully extinguished at 23.05 WIB followed by cooling.

For information, the Cilacap Refinery is one of 6 Pertamina refineries with a processing capacity of 270 thousand barrels per day. This refinery has 228 tanks to accommodate crude to be processed, gas and fuel from crude oil processing.