Demand for Premium fuel falls by 36.8 percent

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina said that the national fuel demand has dropped sharply to 139,800 kiloliter per day from about 191,000 kiloliters per day since the government increased the fuel prices early in October, Media Indonesia reported on Thursday.

Pertamina's spokesman Mochamad Harun said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the demand for Premium gasoline dropped by 36.8 percent to 33,700 kiloliters (33.7 million liters) a day from about 53,400 kiloliters before the increase in the fuel price.

The demand for diesel, meanwhile, fell by 30.3 percent to 53,600 kiloliters from 77,000 kiloliters per day. "However, the demand for kerosene remains stable at about 36.100 kiloliters," Harun said.

He said that Pertamina had reviewed its fuel supply in the domestic market for the next few months such as by rescheduling the company's fuel import plans due to the drop in the fuel demand.

Pertamina hoped the fuel demand would stabilize at the current level until the end of this year so that this year's total fuel demand would not exceed the government's quota of 59.6 million kiloliters. (*)