"Since last week, the refinery in Cilacap has started operating, but in stages," M. Harun said here Monday.
Harun also said that Pertamina was still investigating the causes of the fire that damaged three fuel tanks.
"We are also still waiting for the result of investigation on the loss sustained by Pertamina," he added.
The Cilacap refinery used to produce 348.000 barrels of fuel per day, and it was the largest oil processing plant in Indonesia.
The refining facilities consisted of two locations, of which each of the area contained 118.000 barrels and 230.000 barrels per day.
Pertamina was forced to stop producing fuel in the Cilacap`s refinery as security procedures after the fire of fuel tanks in the refining area.
Earlier, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Darwin Saleh said that production of the refinery dropped 3 percent due to the fire.
The three fuel tanks were burning in two successive days on Saturday (April 2) and Sunday (April 3).
One tank contained high-octane motor gasoline component and the other two contained naphtha.
On Wednesday (April 6) at 5 pm or 108 hours after the first fire gutting the tank on Saturday (April 2) at 4.55 am, Pertamina assured that the flames had been totally put out.
Afterwards, Pertamina kept trying to cool the last burning tank, 31 T-7 tank, to normal temperature and to prevent a bigger fire.
Earlier, the fire that burnt 31 T-7 was extinguished on Tuesday (April 5) at 10.35 am, but the flames again burnt the tank at 12.00 pm due to strong winds which broke the foam covering the hot fluid inside the tank.
Meanwhile, the flames on the two tanks, 31 T-2 and 31 T-3, had been extinguished on Sunday (April 3). (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
