With the operation start-up, Balongan refinery will resume production, starting with fuel oil production.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - State-run PT Pertamina (Persero) has resumed normal operations at its oil refinery in Balongan, Indramayu district, West Java following a massive fire in its storage tanks on March 29, 2021.

Pertamina said it has been focusing on efforts to mitigate the impact of the fire on local residents and recovery of refinery operations that had been shut down after the incident in the T-301 area.

"With the operation start-up, Balongan refinery will resume production, starting with fuel oil production," corporate secretary, sub-holding refining and petrochemical, PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional (KPI), Ifki Sukarya, said in a statement here on Friday.

The start-up process was launched on March 31, 2021, with the operation of the primary processing CDU (Crude Distillation Unit). It was followed by a gradual resumption of the secondary processing unit’s operations, starting with the Residual Catalytic Cracker (RCC) unit that processes residue into high-valued products on April 7, 2021, and the Balongan Blue Sky Refinery (KLBB) unit that produces fuel oil.

The supply transfer has also been adjusted gradually with the resumption of operations at the Balongan refinery, Sukarya informed.

Following the fire at the Balongan refinery, fuel oil supply to Jakarta was routed from other Pertamina refineries in Dumai, Cilacap, Balikpapan, and Tuban by maximizing their production capacity, he said.

Pertamina has ensured that the fuel oil supply is safe, hence there is no need to import, he added.

Pertamina’s Balongan refinery has the largest processing capacity of 125 thousand barrels per day, or about 12 percent of the national production capacity. The refinery supplies fuel oil to Jakarta, Banten, and some parts of West Java.

The Balongan refinery plays a strategic role in maintaining fuel oil supply stability, especially for Premium, Pertamax, and LPG, to Jakarta, Banten, and some parts of West Java, as Indonesia's center of business and administration, Sukarya said.

"Balongan refinery's main products, such as Premium, Pertamax, Pertamax Turbo, Diesel Oil, Avtur, LPG, and Propylene, all have major contribution to Pertamina as well as state revenues," he added. (INE)

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