Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Pertamina, the Indonesian State-owned Oil Company, sent another 400 thousand barrels of gasoline to Cilacap, Central Java, due to the fire at Pertamina refinery tank, an official said here Saturday.

M. Harun, spokesperson Pertamina said here Sunday the extra supply came diverting shipment of imported fuels.

"The gasoline will be distributed to Lomanis terminal to smooth fuel distribution to Yogyakarta and Bandung," he said.

The terminal which is located in Lomanis, Cilacap, was a shelter for gasoline stock which came from the Cilacap refinery.

The Cilacap refinery gasoline production is distributed to Yogyakarta and Bandung by pipeline of the Lomanis terminal.

An explosion causing fire was burning the Cilacap refinery`s tank 31.02 of 10,487 kiloliters of fuel oil at 4.55 am.

The tank was full of high octane motor-gasoline component (HOMC) which was the raw material of Pertamax and Pertamax Plus.

In the meantime the flames gutting 31.02 tank had spread to the nearest tank, T31.03, containing naphtha.

Pertamina found difficulties in isolating the flames due to strong winds, therefore 40 tons of foam and 23 firefighters had been deployed.

Nevertheless, Pertamina assured that the fire in Cilacap would not disrupt fuel distribution to the surrounding areas.

In the national condition, the fuel stock of Pertamina was sufficient with 3.2 million kiloliters of gasoline, solar fuel and kerosene.

The oil company was still investigating causes of the the fire, but no casualties had been reported.(*)

KR-FNY/H-NG/A014

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011