The Pertamina Balongan oil refinery fire is suspected to have been lightning, here is BMKG’s analysis … Page all

KOMPAS.com – The tank of the oil refinery owned by PT Pertamina RU VI in Balongan, Indramayu, West Java, caught fire on Monday morning (3/29/2021).

As previously reported, Pertamina’s corporate secretary for refining and petrochemicals, Ifky Sukarya, said the fire was suspected to be caused by lightning that occurred in the early hours of Monday.

The director of the Center for Technical Seismology, Potential Geophysics and Weather Signals, explained Rahmat Triyono, BMKG conducted an analysis of the lightning strike around the location of the Indramayu oil refinery during the estimated time of the fire.

“Based on monitoring tools lighting detector found at BMKG Jakarta and BMKG Bandung from 00.00 to 02.00 WIB, that no lightning activity was detected in the Balongan Indramayu oil refinery area, “Rahmat said through a press release received. Kompas.com, Tuesday (3/30/2021).

Also read: Fire at the Pertamina Balongan oil refinery: from the causes, the impacts to the data of the victims

When reconfirmed, Rahmat emphasized that his party had not concluded the cause of the explosion and fire at the Pertamina Balongan oil refinery.

However, just transmitting data at the time of the incident, there were no lightning strikes around Balongan.

“There is (a lightning bolt), but far enough away, that if it can set off an explosion, I don’t conclude it because there must be a deeper investigation,” Rahmat said.

BMKG monitors lightning activity throughout Indonesia using lightning detectors at 56 locations.

Monitoring is done using tools lightning detector with the resolution of the BMKG monitoring tool effective in a radius of 300 kilometers.

Also read: Alert! Heavy rains accompanied by wind and lightning can occur in this area

Monitor lightning activity

This monitoring tool, Rahmat continued, was installed at 11 BMKG stations and on the island of Java to monitor lightning activity from Banten to East Java.

“Based on the monitoring results of overhead electrical equipment that on March 29, 2021 at 00.00-02.00 WIB, shows that the lightning density has accumulated in the western part of the Balongan oil refinery about 77 km from distance, which is around Subang with the lightning density level classification is medium-high, “Rahmat said.

In addition, Rahmat explained, lightning is an electrical flash in the air accompanied by a roar due to the encounter of clouds with positive and negative electrical charges.

Also read: Dozens of residents in Banten were struck by lightning, why did this happen?

Lightning has 3 types, namely cloud-to-cloud, within-cloud, and cloud-to-ground. The most dangerous lightning bolt for life on earth is from the clouds to the ground.

It was reported that an incident had occurred at the Pertamina Balongan refinery that caused a fire in the T-301G tank.

Meanwhile, according to Pertamina, the incident occurred on Monday morning (3/29/2021) around 00.45 WIB.

Also read: Viral video of LPG tank car leaks on the road, what is the story?

KOMPAS.com/Akbar Bhayu Tamtomo
Infographic: Tips to Avoid Lightning