Indonesian officials call for audit after Pertamina fire kills 15

JAKARTA – Indonesian officials have called for an investigation and an audit of state energy company Pertamina’s facilities after a fire at its storage facility killed 15 people.

The fire broke out at around 8pm (9pm Singapore time) on Friday.

It started from a fuel pipe at Pertamina’s Plumpang fuel storage depot in Jakarta, and quickly spread to nearby houses and sent residents in the densely populated area into panic.

The authorities initially put the death toll at 17 but revised it later to 15. Dozens were injured and hundreds were evacuated.

The fire had been extinguished by the early morning hours on Saturday, North Jakarta firefighter official Abdul Wahid said.

Pertamina said it had lifted the emergency status for the facility and restarted distribution services.

It added that fuel supply for Jakarta would remain secure as it diverts supplies from other terminals.

An investigation was ongoing into the cause of the blaze. Pertamina said in a statement on Saturday that a pipe leak was detected prior to the fire.

“I have ordered Pertamina to immediately investigate this case thoroughly,” State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir said via his Instagram page.

“There must be an operational review,” he added.

The fire left dozens of houses and some cars charred.

Some residents were seen returning to their homes to check the extent of the damage or to salvage their belongings from the debris. 

Some were going from one hospital to another, searching for their missing relatives.

Audit

Mr Sugeng Suparwoto, who heads Parliament’s energy committee, called for an audit of Pertamina’s facilities.

“All facilities, whether refineries or storage, must be audited again,” he said on KompasTV, noting that Pertamina often had fire incidents at its facilities.

In 2021, a major fire broke out at Pertamina’s refineries in Balongan and Cilacap.

Mr Sugeng also said there should be a bigger distance between Pertamina’s storage facilities and residential areas.

“For a facility with Plumpang’s capacity, there should be at least one to two kilometres’ distance with the residential area,” he said.

Plumpang, with a storage capacity of more than 300,000 kilolitres, is one of Pertamina’s biggest fuel terminals.

There is a dense residential area outside Plumpang’s outer wall, separated by only a narrow street, a Reuters witness said.

Local residents could smell fuel around 30 minutes before the fire, Mr Abdul Syukur, who lives nearby, told KompasTV.

“The smell was so strong that there were people throwing up and some nearly fainted,” he said.

Pertamina chief executive Nicke Widyawati said the company will launch an internal review. REUTERS