Borneo oil spill

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Balikpapan (Indonesia)
Balikpapan
Balikpapan
Location of Balikpapan in Borneo

The oil spill off Borneo was triggered when an underwater pipeline of the state-owned Pertamina company leaked on the east coast of Borneo on March 29, 2018 near Balikpapan . An unknown amount of oil then flowed into the sea, and the authorities declared a state of emergency .

background

With an area of ​​more than 750,000 square kilometers , the Indonesian Borneo is the third largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea and is only sparsely populated. Large parts are covered with a continuous tropical lowland rainforest . Around 700,000 people live in the port city of Balikpapan.

Pipeline leak

On March 29, 2018, a pipeline carrying crude oil from the Law-Law Oil Port to an oil refinery in Balikpapan leaked off the coast of the port city. An unknown amount of crude oil then flowed into the Bay of Balikpapan on the east coast of Borneo. According to the Indonesian government, the coast is affected over a length of 60 kilometers; 34 hectares of mangrove forest were damaged by the oil.

The pipeline belongs to the state-owned energy company Pertamina . As a countermeasure, workers set fire to the resulting oil slick in some places to slow down its further spread.

consequences

At least five people died between March 31 and April 1, 2018, as a result of the fire and other areas of the oil spill ignited.

Hundreds of residents of the beach section suffered from shortness of breath and nausea due to the heavy smoke development.

According to the Indonesian authorities, numerous fish and other marine animals were killed by the oil. Species protected by individuals such as manatees and dolphins also died.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kharishar Kahfi: Balikpapan oil spill: What we know and don't know . In: The Jakarta Post . April 11, 2018 (English, thejakartapost.com [accessed May 31, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Melanie Berger: Oil spill off Borneo is getting significantly smaller . In: Der Tagesspiegel Online . April 6, 2018, ISSN  1865-2263 ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed April 6, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Sea ablaze off Borneo coast. Accessed April 6, 2018 .

Coordinates: 1 ° 16 ′  S , 116 ° 50 ′  E