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Crisis Management by Pertamina Balongan

The tank at the oil refinery owned by PT Pertamina RU VI in Balongan, Indramayu, West Java,
suffered a fire on Monday, March 29, 2021. The fire was thought to have been caused by lightning,
but this is still being analyzed further by BMKG.

It is known that this incident caused several injuries. Head of Public Relations of the West Java
Regional Police, Kombes Erdi Adrimulan Chaniago, said that dozens of people suffered minor
injuries. Then 5 people were seriously injured. However, no victims died.

Communication Team

The Pertamina Balongan tank that caught fire caused panic in the community, resulting in many
false issues circulating regarding this incident, such as the scarcity of fuel due to a burning oil
refinery. However, this statement was immediately denied by Pertamina's Managing Director,
Nicke Widyawati in a virtual press conference, March 29, 2021. In the press conference, she
emphasized that what was burning was an oil tank and not the Pertamina oil refinery. Nicke
appealed to the public not to do panic buying.

In addition to holding press conferences, Pertamina's Communication Team is actively utilizing

social media such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and their official website to provide information
regarding the efforts Pertamina has made in dealing with the incident.

Not only that, regarding the fire fighting efforts at the Balongan refinery, it was published in the
form of an infographic that was easier for the public to understand, because it was in the form of
visuals and brief information.

Pertamina also recommends contacting Call Center 135 to inform the public about all complaints
and inconveniences.
 (Infographic https://twitter.com/pertamina/status/1376348681868242945?s=20)

Official website’s Pertamina: https://www.pertamina.com/id/news-room/energia-news/dirut-

pertamina-jangan-panic-buying-stok-bbm-cukup

Mass Media Contact

To avoid confusing information or hoax news circulating in the community, PT Pertamina swiftly
held a virtual press conference, a few hours after the incident, which was attended by Pertamina's
Managing Director, Nicke Widyawati, Mulyono as Director of Logistics and Infrastructure, and
Mas'ud Khamid as Director of Commercial and Trading to explain the incident in detail, along
with the steps taken by Pertamina.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXHvvmbQmVk (Pertamina’s Pers Coference)

Honesty and Openness in Sharing Facts

Apart from revealing facts and data directly and openly through virtual press conferences, through
official social media and official websites, Pertamina also contains valid data in the form of easy-
to-understand infographics.

Through this channel, Pertamina informed the efforts made to the victims. All of this information
can be found easily through social media and Pertamina's official website.

Periodic Press Conferences

So far, Pertamina has only held one virtual press conference on March 29, 2021. All information
regarding sustainability efforts after the incident by Pertamina is informed through Pertamina's
official channels, which are updated every day.

Becareful in Delivering Information

In connection with a very sensitive issue that claimed victims, this is quite a tough task for the
Pertamina Communication team, to keep providing actual information but not causing any new
problems. So, to avoid this, conveying information and data in an actual manner without any
manipulation and subjective opinion is an important factor in crisis communication management.

Pertamina's communication team has also done this well. Bas

ed on the analysis of the public response on Pertamina's official platform, few negative comments
were made to Pertamina regarding this incident, many even gave prayers and positive sentences,
and praised Pertamina's response in handling the incident.

Reputation Communication

How the company's efforts in managing crises that occur in the company can form a better
corporate image or even make its image fall further. The efforts made and the forms of response
from the company, will provide a separate assessment by the public. So that a good response will
certainly have an impact on positive assessments from the community, and vice versa.

In responding to the issues that have occurre, Pertamina has maintained its reputation by
providing valid information without any manipulation of data, both at the press conference held,
as well as on the official Pertamina platform, which is updated along with photos of the activities,
in every day.
Not only that, various efforts have been done by Pertamina as a form of airline responsibility for
the incident, where the President Director of Pertamina bears the medical costs of the victims at
the Pertamina Central Hospital Jakarta.

Pertamina President Director Nicke Widyawati said Pertamina had assigned a Specialist Doctor
Team and would continue to monitor the medical treatment process for patients affected by the
Balongan refinery incident at the RSPP Burns Unit.

Nicke also said that RSPP is one of the best hospitals in Indonesia in treating burns. To ensure
that the patient's condition improves, the RSPP team of doctors continues to supervise and
monitor the patient closely for 24 hours involving a medical team from plastic surgeons, internal
medicine, anesthetists, as well as nutritionists and nurses who are experienced in handling burn
patients.

https://economy.okezone.com/read/2021/03/30/320/2386753/dirut-pertamina-tanggung-biaya-
korban-ledakan-kilang-minyak-balongan?page=1

One sound

Based on the analysis, Pertamina is very good at conveying the flow of communication to the
public. It can be seen that the parties who submitted valid information were only raised by the
parties concerned. As in the press conference that was held, only parties were appropriate to share
further and detailed information, as conveyed by the President Director of Pertamina, Nicke
Widyawati, Mulyono as Director of Logistics and Infrastructure, and Mas'ud Khamid as Director
of Commercial and Trading.

In addition, all information regarding Pertamina's efforts to address this incident can be found
easily and in detail on Pertamina's official platform.

In every Pertamina Instagram post related to this incident, the Pertamina admin also said that
accurate information updates can be found at pertamina.com.
Empathy Communication

This incident resulted in dozens of injured victims, and Pertamina swiftly took the victims to the
Jakarta RSPP. The sense of empathy shown by Pertamina to the victims, namely, bearing the
medical costs of the victims, and ensuring that victims get maximum care with the support of a
team of doctors, nurses, and the best equipment that is ready to be on 24 hour standby.

Pertamina is also fully committed in handling patients until they recover physically and
psychologically trauma.
Many Communication Channels

News about information updates regarding the Pertamina incident, can be found on Pertamina's
official social media platforms (Twitter: @pertamina, Instagram: Pertamina, Youtube:
Pertamina, Official website: Pertamina.com)

(1: Pertamina’s Youtube, 2: Pertamina Official Website, 3: Pertamina’s twitter, 4: Pertamina’s

instagram)

Closing

Various efforts made by Pertamina, such as holding press conferences, providing assistance and
benefits to victims' families, participating in field investigations, giving the openness and honesty
information towards public, had an impact on successful crisis management by the company.

It can be seen from the good crisis handling by Pertamina and its communication team, which did
not cause panic in the community, in fact many people gave positive responses to the preparedness
of the recovery incident by Pertamina. Not many negative comments have been made to Pertamina
to date, indicating that Pertamina has succeeded in its management crisis.