At around 9 pm tonight, a tank at Pertamina gas depot at Plumpang North Jakarta exploded causing shockwaves around the area reaching at least as far as 300 meters which include the Gading Kirana housing estate. Residents nearby reported to Metro TV that the explosion felt like an earthquake. The flames went up at least 100 meters high. The tank holds premium gasoline, which is the lowest yet most common quality gasoline for regular vehicles.
Brandon Hoover, a resident of Gading Kirana stated over Twitter that "The explosion shockwave hit at 9:24pm. Shook front of my house quote powerfully. My home is only 300 meters from explosion. #plumpang"
He broke the news at 9:10 WIB saying, “HUGE explosion near my house. Pertamina gas company has plant begin my complex? Sky red n huge smoke. Can someone watch news?”
He has since evacuated to at least 2 Km away.
According to Ari Firmansyah, a Process Engineer who oversees safety and risk analysis for oil and gas installations, says “The tanks that hold the fuel are atmospheric tanks, unlikely to cause explosions. Suppose there’s a leak somewhere, someone light a match or fire source, it would cause a fire in a first place, not explosion. But of course if there’s an accumulation of hydrocarbon vapor with delayed ignition… the explosion might be happening.”
He also said that, “from experience it could take 21 to 48 hours to put out tank farm fires.” using Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), a chemical solution made to put out gasoline-based fires.
Due to the urgency and speed of Twitter users in Jakarta, updates regarding the Plumpang explosions came in rapidly through Twitter and helped spread the news regarding this incident.
Kukuh Wicaksono calculated that since the tank holds up to 5000 kilo liter and one mobile refulling unit holds 40 liters, 5 million liters can fill up 125 units. At Rp 4500 per liter, this incident may cause Pertamina at least Rp. 22.5 billion or about US$ 2 million. Should all tanks caught fire, the loss will reach potentially Rp 5 trillion rupiah.
Back in October there were reports of a terrorist plan to blow up Plumpang depot but as of this moment there are no indication whether this was such an act.
AuliaSays 