Alfian, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 01/20/2009 2:44 PM
Despite being the country’s most vital distribution point for fuel supply to the capital, the Plumpang depot run by state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has been run for far too long with extremely lax levels of security.
While investigations into the cause of Sunday’s blast have not reached clear conclusions, top officials have commented on the weaknesses and vulnerability of lax depot security, as well as noting previous terrorist threats.
Located in a dense housing area of North Jakarta, the depot is only marked off by a thin wire fence, without any safety ditch or even modest barriers.
Empty spaces just outside the depot have often been used by the locals to fly kites, hovering low above the depot.
There are a growing numbers of thugs who have regularly extorted truck drivers on their way to the depot, stealing fuel left in trucks for sale on the nearby black market.
“The safety standard of all Pertamina depots will be reviewed. Not only for Plumpang,” said State Minister for State Enterprises Sofyan Djalil in response to the weak security at the Plumpang fuel depot.
It was not until the blast that he requested Pertamina to construct a 50 meter wide water-filled ditch.
With 20 percent of national fuel distribution capacity in the depot, tank number 24 exploded late Sunday, with the loss of 3,000 kiloliters of subsidized Premium gasoline.
Plumpang is Pertamina’s largest depot for supplying fuel in Greater Jakarta, which needs around 9,420 kiloliters of Premium and 4,677 kiloliters of subsidized diesel per day.
The depot’s installed storage capacity is actually bigger than the available area should hold, and the area should be expanded in view of the number of tanks. It has 24 storage tanks; seven for gasoline, five for diesel and the remaining for other fuels including liquefied petroleum gas and aviation fuel.
The depot’s Premium tanks have a total storage capacity of 85,348 kiloliters, with 91,456 kiloliters for diesel. The Sunday inferno stopped depot operations for 18 hours. Although there was no massive shortage in Greater Jakarta, several gas stations ran out fuel Monday, said downstream oil and gas regulator BPHMigas head Tubagus Haryono.
Pertamina claimed it had complied with security standards and safety procedures.
“The depot tanks passed a certified test before they were put into operation,” the embattled Pertamina president director, Ari H. Soemarno, said.
The police anti-terrorist squad found materials used for creating bombs in a house located in the neighborhood of the depot in October last year.
Ari admitted the depot was just too close to the surrounding neighborhood. “The land occupied by the residents is actually Pertamina’s and occupied illegally. This matter needs to be regulated in the future.”
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired three-star Army general, has frequently visited the depot on the occasion of fuel shortages in Greater Jakarta, but somehow missed seeing the extremely poor security of the depot in terms of fencing and safety ditches.
Plumpang depot profile
- Located in Plumpang, North Jakarta
- Built in 1972 and began operation in 1974
- The depot has 24 storage tanks in total
- Seven of the tanks are for Premium gasoline storage with a total capacity of 85,348 kiloliters. Five other tanks are for diesel with a total capacity of 91,456 kiloliters.
- The remaining tanks are for other fuels.
- Plumpang depot serves 645 fuel stations in Greater Jakarta. It distributes 9,420 kiloliters Premium gasoline and 4,677 kiloliters diesel per day. It supplies high octane Pertamax amounting to 531 kiloliters per day and Pertamax Plus amounting to 190 kiloliters.
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