Member Of DPR Commission VII Regrets The Recurring Oil Refinery Fires, Calls Lack Of Care For Technology

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VII of The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Nasyirul Falah Amru regretted the fire incident at Pertamina's oil refinery area V Pertamina Balikpapan, East Kalimantan which occurred last Friday, March 4. Nasyirul revealed that he saw that this fire was no longer related to the technology used in oil refineries, but rather a lack of maintenance.

"Because every company wants to build a refinery, all the risks must have been taken into account, of course with a technology. When this technology is installed, the main thing that must be emphasized is the maintenance of the refinery. Including maintenance of technology to prevent fires. see, it's still lacking," said Nasyirul in his statement, Monday, March 7.

He added that such maintenance should be carried out regularly and must be monitored. Otherwise, there will always be fires.

“Moreover, currently the price of oil is skyrocketing, while we have not been able to meet our oil lifting. As a result of the fire, of course, the country suffered significant losses, which could reach trillions of rupiah. So, if you want to blame, whose fault is it?” he said.

Furthermore, Nasyirul assesses the management which caused the fire to occur again. Therefore, he hopes that from now on, maintenance of oil refineries, especially in anticipation of fires and so on, must be tightened or improved. So that there is no longer the term being struck by lightning and other reasons.

Not only that, Nasyirul also hopes that the government should continue to monitor state assets. Including Pertamina's assets. So that there will be no more oil refinery fires in all areas.

Previously, in the early hours of Monday, March 29, 2021, a tank fire occurred at the PT Pertamina RU VI Balongan oil refinery, Indramayu Regency, West Java.

A few months later, on Friday 11 June 2021, a fire also occurred at the Cilacap refinery, namely the 39 Pertamina RU IV Cilacap tank area at 19.45 p.m. local time, in the 39T-205 tank bundwill. And third, there was a fire at Pertamina's Refinery Unit (RU) IV Cilacap Tank 36T-102, which contains 31,000 kiloliters of Pertalite components, in Lomanis, Central Cilacap, on Saturday, November 13, 2021.