A huge fire ripped through at a petroleum processing refinery in Indonesia on Saturday night November 13.

A tank containing 90 octane gasoline exploded and burst into flames at the Pertamina plant in Cilacap, Central Java province at around 07.10 pm local time.

The flames rose so high that they could be seen from several miles around.

‘The burnt tank contains components of Pertalite products, gasoline with an octane of 90, as much as 31,000 kiloliters,’ said Eko Sunarno, General Manager of Pertamina Cilacap Refinery, Sunday.

Pertamina said they battled to extinguish the fire and prevent a bigger blaze.

As many as 80 personnel, consisting of 50 Emergency Assistance Teams and 30 internal Pertamina firefighters, tried to extinguish the fire.

Pertamina President Director, Nicke Widyawati, said the fire was extinguished at 11.05 pm. But the sparks re-emerged and the fire broke out again.

The new fire coukd be completely extinguished at 07.45 am, Sunday. The fire team declared the situation safe at 09.15 am.

The cause of the fire at the refinery is not yet known. There were no fatalities in this incident.

During the past year, fires at Pertamina’s Petroleum Processing Refinery have occurred twice. Previously the fire occurred on June 11, 2021. At that time, the fire burned 1,100 barrels of benzene products.