Pertamina Import of Fuel will Increase

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina will increase its Premium gasoline imports by a total of 1.2 million barrels in August and September to anticipate the usually higher demand in the upcoming fasting month. Hanung Budya, Pertamina’s deputy director for marketing, said that the demand for Premium gasoline might increase by 3.5 percent during the Ramadan fasting month which will start at the end of this week.

“Therefore, there will be more Premium gasoline imports in August and September. The imports will be done by Petral [Pertamina Energy Trading Limited]” Hanung told reporters Wednesday. Pertamina’s spokesperson Basuki Trikora Putra said that in normal conditions Pertamina imported 5.6 million barrels of Premium gasoline a month. But, these imports will be increased by one million barrels in August and 200,000 barrels in September, he added. “Thus, Pertamina will import about 6.6 million barrels in August and 5.8 million barrels in September,” Trikora said.

Premium gasoline is one of subsidized fuels in Indonesia for which Pertamina acts as the sole distributor. Demand for the fuel reaches 55,000 kiloliters, or about 345,939 barrels per day. Hanung said that as of today the national stock for Premium gasoline reached 1,042,720 kiloliters which is enough for 18.4 days. “We have a very safe stock,” he said. The average security level for fuel stock is at 22 days.Hanung added that Pertamina would again operate round-the-clock fuel stations along the traditional route across the northern part of Java which is usually busy during holidays, to anticipate possible fuel shortages.“We are also preparing fuel deposits in strategic locations,” he said.

Hanung pointed out that weather conditions, especially El Nino, might become a factor that could disrupt fuel distribution. “In several areas, our tankers must wait between two and three days to dock due the El Nino. To anticipate this, we will fill our main depots earlier. We will accumulate fuel as much as possible in the [target]areas,” he said.

Source: The Jakarta Post