BP bags licence to sell fuel in Indonesia

BP Plc, Europe's largest oil company, won a license from the Indonesian government to import and sell fuels as the Southeast Asian country opens up its fuel retailing industry to competition, Bloomberg reported.

"BP wants to develop wholesale business, trading and retail here," Erie Soedarmo, director of processing and trading at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said on Monday in a telephone interview in Jakarta.

Indonesia is opening the industry to competition after ending state-owned PT Pertamina's monopoly on fuel sales. The company's role on fuel distribution will be handed over to state downstream oil regulator BP Hilir Migas in November 2005.

BP became the latest international company to get a license after Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Malaysia's state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).

Shell's unit secured one of six licenses the Indonesian government granted in February. In June, the government awarded a license to a unit of Petronas.

PetroChina Co. and Total SA are also seeking licenses to sell fuel in Indonesia, BP Hilir Migas said last year. (*)