VIVAnews – The fire at the Pertamina fuel depot in Plumpang, Jakarta, Sunday night, 18 January, has customers worried that there will be a lack of supply. As such, queues for premium fuel form at fuel stations in Jakarta. There are concerns that supply would run out by afternoon. Some fuel stations have already put up signs “out of premium.”
At one fuel station in Cassablanca, Kuningan, South Jakarta, sales since last night has reached more than 7,000 liters. This is up 30 percent from normal conditions. “On normal days, in the same period of time, (sales are) only about 5,000 tons,” said Supervisor Operator Ihwanudin to VIVAnews, Monday, Jan. 19.
Most of the customers who go to the fuel station buy premium fuel. From a total of 40 to 50,000 liters per day, premium fuel constitutes 30 to 40,000 liters. Meanwhile the fuel supply at the fuel station is only enough for less than one day, or 24,000 liters. “If supply doesn’t come today, we will be out of stock tomorrow,” he said.
Another fuel station, near Grand Melia Hotel, Kuningan, Jakarta, has already put up a sign “out of premium” since 6.00am.
According to Vika, 24, an employee at the fuel station, even though the sign has been put up, there are still some reserves and therefore they are still providing limited service. “It’s estimated that by 2.00pm we will run out of premium fuel,” said Vika.
Vika explained that the reserves came from Plumpang on Sunday night, before it caught on fire. Usually the fuel station is supplied with 2 to 3 tanks per day.
The same sentiment is shared by an operator at another fuel station, in Menteng Jakarta. Tasman is worried that supplies will run out, especially with the queue of customers. “Probably as of this evening, the stock would run out,” said Tasman.
Narto, an employee at another fuel station in Pancoran, Jakarta, is also worried. He said that he has received 32 kiloliters of supply from Plumpang yesterday. Its total reserve is 60 kiloliters. However, they would probably run out by 5.00pm this evening.
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To dampen the effect of the fire and the jump in consumption, Pertamina has diverted supplies of premium fuel from three of its other fuel depots at. “For the time being supply is being assisted by three depots. Cikampek, Merak, and Padalarang,” said President Director of Pertamina, Ari Soemarno to VIVAnews, Monday, Jan. 19.
From the Padalarang depot, West Java, Pertamina has diverted 120 tanks of premium fuel to Plumpang, North Jakarta. “Last night we have transferred premium fuel to secure and add to the supply in Plumpang,” said Vice President Director of Pertamina, Arifin Takhyan, Jakarta, Jan. 19.
Now that the fire has been put out, Takhyan hopes that fuel distribution from North Jakarta will soon be back to normal. The Plumpang depot contains fuel reserves of about 60 kiloliters. Meanwhile, fuel consumption in Jakarta is about 9,000 kiloliters per day.
Premium fuel tank number 24 at Pertamina fuel depot in Plumpang, North Jakarta, caught fire Monday, Jan. 18, about 9.15 pm. The fire was finally put out about 9 hours later, at about 6.30am. The cause of the fire is not yet known. An investigation team is being formed by the government.
VIVAnews journalists Pipiet Tri Noorastuti, Hadi Suprapto, Ferial, Heri Susanto and Elly Setyo Rini contributed to this article
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