Pertamina Boosts Efforts to Clean Up Java Sea After Oil Spill

(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia’s PT Pertamina has intensified efforts to clean up the Java Sea after an oil spill that was first detected about two weeks ago, seeking to avoid environmental damage to marine life and coastal areas.

The state-run oil company has installed five high-speed water skimmers to suck the fuel from the sea surface, according to a statement on its website Sunday. It has also put up a static oil boom stretching 2,000 meters (1.24 miles) around the YY platform off Karawang, West Java to contain the spill.

The efforts come as Pertamina -- which has hired oil-well firefighting specialist Boots & Coots to assist it in minimizing the risk of environmental damage -- said Thursday that it may take about eight weeks before the leaking well can be fully shut down. The company on Saturday said it has set up four health posts at coastal villages in Java.

READ: Pertamina Sends Health Teams to Oil-Spill Affected Areas in Java

Pertamina has mobilized and alerted 32 vessels for oil-spill combat and firefighting among other measures, according to Sunday’s statement. A total of 800 people and more than 100 military personnel were also involved in cleaning up oil spills on the beach.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoga Rusmana in Jakarta at yrusmana@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Shikhar Balwani

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