The marine tanker 'Cinta Natomas' docked at Celukan Bawang Port in Buleleng has tilted alarmingly. Local residents noticed the unusual position of the vessel.
To reassure the population, Pertamina, which operates this floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO), issued a statement.
Pertamina claims the tilt occurred due to the vessel's unloading. However, specialists are monitoring the angle of inclination.
Pertamina's offshore marine operations assistant manager Agus Mulyanto stated that the vessel's recent tilt remains within technical tolerances.
"A tilt of a vessel at sea is a common occurrence. This tanker is quite old, launched back in 1972, and is engine-less. Its sole function is storage."
Earlier reports in local media indicated that 'Cinta Natomas' is currently undergoing a cleaning process before being returned to the state as part of the FUPP (decommissioning and scrapping) procedure.
According to Agus, the operation is taking place across several storage compartments. The vessel's capacity of over a million barrels makes the cleaning process lengthy.
Pertamina Zone 11 project and construction engineer Edo Septiavan added that the cleaning of 'Cinta Natomas' has been ongoing since July 2025. He mentioned that the work is now 50 percent complete.
He emphasized that the vessel no longer stores crude oil but contains only solid and liquid residues. So far, about 146 tons of solid waste and nearly 2000 tons of liquid waste have been removed from the vessel. The total volume of sediment to be cleaned is approximately 100,000 tons.
If all goes according to plan, cleaning is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.
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