Directly Involved, President Director of Pertamina Ensures the Handling in Balongan Refinery

Jakarta, March 29, 2021 - After holding a press conference at Pertamina's Jakarta Head Office, the President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) went straight to the field to ensure the handling of the T-301 tank incident in the Balongan Refinery Area goes well.

The visit was also to fully check the impact of the incident on operations, handling the people surrounding the refinery area, and ensuring a safe fuel supply.

President Director of Pertamina, Nicke Widyawati, explained that the incident occurred in the fuel storage tank area. The affected location is about 2 hectares of the total 180 hectares of the Balongan Refinery area.

"As seen earlier, we toured in the field. Other areas are safe, and up until this evening, the fire has started to get smaller," said Nicke.

Nicke added from 72 tanks in the refinery area with a total capacity of 1.35 million Kilo Liter (KL), there were four tanks affected by the incident with a capacity of 100 thousand KL or about 7% of the total storage capacity at the Balongan refinery.

"We will make extra efforts to extinguish the fire," she explained.

According to Nicke, Pertamina continues to extinguish the fire in the affected areas by pumping seawater to extinguish the hotspots completely. To pump seawater, Pertamina has brought in submersible pump assistance from RU IV Cilacap.

"When the fire is extinguished, we can start up to operate the refinery. Of course, we have to make sure everything is safe," she added.

Responding to the news circulating in the community regarding the cause of the incident, Nicke asked all parties to wait for the results of Pertamina's investigation by involving officials who had the location directly. Pertamina also collects all information, both internally and from the public, to become material for investigations.

"Currently, Pertamina is still focused on handling and the impact of the incident. We ensure that the community is safe," she said.**