Balongan to undergo routine maintenance
Thursday, January 5 2006 - 02:46 AM WIB
Pertamina's marketing director Ari Soemarno said in Jakarta on Wednesday that Pertamina would import more fuels to anticipate a possible shortage of fuel supply as the result of the plant's closure.
"Fuel imports would likely increase to 9.2 million barrels in February from about 8.5 million barrels in January," he said. According to him, the daily fuel demands remain stable at about 170,000 kiloliter per day.
He said that the national fuel stock are relatively high at present, sufficient enough to meet the fuel demand for 26 days. "It is quite higher compared to compared those before the increase in the fuel prices in October. During that time, fuel stocks were only enough for 22 and 23 days," he added.
In contrast to Ari's statement, Pertamina's spokesman Muhammd Harun said on Wednesday that the company's management had decided to cut down the imports of fuel to 7.6 million barrels next month, a 55 percent decrease from the normal amount.
Harun was quoted by Kompas daily as saying that the decision was made due to the decrease in fuel consumption followign the significant increase in fuel prices in October last year.(*)