Indonesia refinery blaze still burning

Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina is still trying to fully extinguish a fire at its Balongan refinery that has injured six people and prompted the evacuation of hundreds of others.

Pertamina chief executive Nicke Widyawati said late on Monday the fire, which has been burning for more than 24 hours, had been contained to a small area and she was optimistic it could be put out soon.

"Yesterday we carried out an isolated fire control, (and) now we are taking an offensive effort to further extinguish the fires," Ifki Sukarya, a Pertamina official, said on Tuesday.

About 950 people left their homes due to the fire and a resulting explosion at the plant on Java island on Monday, though some had started to return, according to the company.

Videos shared on social media showed huge flames engulfing part of the 125,000 barrel per day facility, while a large explosion can be heard.

Pertamina expects operations to be restored in four to five days as damage was limited to the storage area of the West Java refinery and did not affect its oil processing area, company officials said on Monday.

Nicke said in a statement late on Monday that only seven per cent of the 1.35 million kilolitres (KL) of storage capacity at Balongan was affected by the fire.

The company estimated the storage tanks on fire were holding around 23,000KL of gasoline prior to the blaze.

Pertamina said there were no fatalities caused by the fire, although local media said one resident had died from a heart attack suspected to be due to the shock of the explosion.

The state company said national fuel stocks remained secure despite the fire and any shortage of fuel supply to Jakarta, which Balongan serves, will be replaced by refineries in Cilacap and Tuban.

West Java police are waiting for the fire to be put out before starting an investigation to determine its cause.