Pertamina shuts down Cilacap refinery after fire at storage tanks

Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas company, recently closed its 348,000-barrel per day Cilacap refinery when a fire destroyed its fuel storage tanks. Cilacap is the country’s biggest refinery. The company is now importing gasoline and gasoil to cover a domestic shortage. The decision to shut down the refinery was a “standard operating procedure,” said Bambang Harijanto, general manager. The decision to shut down the units making products such as gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel came after a fire broke out on April 2 at a storage tank containing a gasoline component, which then spread to two other nearby tanks. (April 7,2011)