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Pertamina completes removal of broken oil pipes in Balikpapan
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Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya (left) and Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar (right) sit at a meeting on the Balikpapan oil spill at the House of Representatives on April 16. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
T
he removal of broken undersea oil pipes in Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan, was completed on Sunday afternoon after being hampered by bad weather on Saturday.
State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina lifted the last piece of the pipe on Sunday after removing the first two on Friday. The first piece measured 7 m and weighed 3.5 metric tons, the second 12 m and 9 tons. The last one was 24 m and 12 tons.
Read also: Pertamina sanctioned for Balikpapan oil spill
The pipe was made of 12-milimeter-thick steel and measured around 30 centimeters in diameter. It had been covered with concrete and planted more than 20 m under the seabed.
Pertamina used a crane and deployed 19 divers for the mission, which had been ordered by the East Kalimantan Police’s Special Crime Directorate. The lifting was supervised by the police, Balikpapan Prosecutors’ Office and Indonesian Navy.
Read also: Balikpapan oil spill: What we know and don’t know
“Cutting the pipe took quite some time,” Yudi Nugraha, Pertamina’s manager of communications and corporate social responsibility (CSR) for Kalimantan, said over the weekend.
A preliminary investigation concluded that the pipe broke and began leaking after it was dragged 120 m from its initial location by the anchor of Panamian ship MV Ever Judger. The ship is now accused of dropping anchor in a prohibited area.
Reports say the anchor was 3 m tall, 2 m wide and weighed 12 tons.
“Our divers found a gorge [in the seabed], 1.6 m to 2.5 m wide, 40 cm to 70 cm deep and 498.82 m in length,” head of the Navy’s Hydrography and Oceanography Center, Cmdr. Harjo Susmoro, said on Saturday.
He suspected it had been the result of the anchor dragging across the seabed.
Joko Suyono, secretary of Indonesian National Shipowner Association (INSA) in Balikpapan, said ships were not allowed to drop anchor haphazardly in Semayang Port.
Ship captains are required to report their arrival to the port traffic controller and local authorities. Afterwards, a tugboat would escort the ship through the bay, he said.
Director of the East Kalimantan Police’s Special Crime Directorate, Sr. Comr. Yustan Alpiani, said investigators have a recording of the MV Ever Judger’s communications.
On the day the oil spill triggered a fire, the MV Ever Judger was also set ablaze and the Water Police saved the ship’s 22-member crew. One of them suffered serious burns and is being treated at Pertamina Balikpapan Hospital. (evi)
