Fuel shortage hits Central and East Java

A number of towns in Central and East Java suffered a shortage of fuel supply on Sunday due to a shortage of fuel supply to the two provinces' main fuel receiving terminals.

Kompas and Suara Karya dailies reported on Monday that the shortage of fuel supply had caused a long line of vehicles in many fuel stations in several towns in the two provinces.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro acknowledged that the shortage of fuel supply does not only occurred in Java but also in Bali and several parts of Sumatra.

He said that the shortage of fuel supply was caused by a technical problem in some of the country's refinery plants and due to damage in the oil tanker which distributed the fuel to Bali and nearby areas.

Especially in Central Java, the shortage of the fuel supply occurred after Pertamina changed the route of the fuel distribution to the area from the Pengapon receiving terminal in Semarang and to the Rewulu receiving terminal in Yogyakarta.

Purnomo said in order to cope with the shortage of fuel, Pertamina had dispatched two oil tankers to provide additional fuel supply to Central Java and East Java. One of the tankers would provide additional fuel supply to the Surabaya receiving terminal in a bid to cope with the fuel shortage in East Java, while the other one would provide additional supply to the Cilacap receiving terminal in order to the end the fuel supply problem in Central Java. (*)