News

Indonesia’s largest oil refinery on fire, forcing evacuation of residents

by Brad Dress - 11/13/21 1:22 PM ET

AP Photo/Agus Fitrah
The sky glows from the fire that razes through an oil refinery owned by the national oil company Pertamina, in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021. The fire at a gasoline storage at the largest oil refinery on Indonesia’s Java island prompted the evacuation of dozens of residents living nearby.

A fire at an oil refinery on an Indonesian island has prompted an evacuation of 80 nearby residents, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Java Island’s largest oil refinery, owned by national company Pertamina, burst into flames around 7:20 p.m. Saturday at one of the 228 gas tanks inside its premises, according to the wire service.

The refinery is located in Cilacap and can produce 270,000 barrels per day.

Videos posted to Twitter showed a large column of flames and smoke bursting from the oil refinery.

Pertamina’s oil refinery in Cilacap, Central Java caught fire tonight at 19.20 WIB#dailynews #today #fire #Indonesia #centraljava #videonews pic.twitter.com/o5SgOtsfHC

— rovitavare (@tavare24karat) November 13, 2021

This is the second time the Cilacap facility has caught on fire, with another blaze reported in June.

It’s also the second oil refinery owned by Pertamina to catch fire this year. In March, a facility in Balongan, Western Java, also erupted overnight and injured six people. Nearly 1,000 residents were evacuated after the conflagration.

Tags evacuations Indonesia Jakarta