Government approves Pertamina?s plan to acquire fuel storage overseas

The government has approved state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina?s plan to acquire fuel storage facilities in neighboring countries to help quickly increase national fuel stock, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

The paper quoted Director General of Oil and Gas IGN Wiratmaja as saying that Pertamina plans to acquire fuel storage instead of developing it at home as the latter takes a longer time to complete.

He said that Pertamina has been targeted to increase operational stock of fuel and crude oil from 21 days of supply to 30 days this year. To meet this target, Pertamina needs extra fuel storage capacity of up to 15 million barrels to realize the target.

Wiratmaja declined to disclose the location of the acquisition targets. He said that the government would issue a new regulation to facilitate Pertamina?s acquisition plan.

Elsewhere, Wiratmaja also said that the government plans to develop a fuel and crude oil buffer stock of up 30 days of supply, inviting investors including from overseas to develop storage facilities with combined capacity of up to 45 million barrels. (*)