Govt refuses change in MOPS-based fuel price
Monday, November 18 2002 - 04:06 AM WIB
The government has turned down the request from state oil and gas firm Pertamina to set domestic fuel prices at 15 percent above the Mid Oil Platts Singapore (MOPS) price index from the current 5 percent above MOPS which the country has used since March 2002, Kompas daily reported on Monday.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro was quoted as saying on Sunday that fulfilling Pertamina?s request will surely increase the burden of the Indonesian people.
?Surely, the government will not accommodate such requests. We have pity in the common people,? Purnomo told reporters during his visit to West Java.
Last week, Pertamina president director Baihaki Hakim told House members that the proposed new price formula aimed to enable his company to make profit. ?With the current formula Pertamina can never make profit,? Baihaki said.
Starting in March 2002, the government sets fuel prices for the domestic market every year based on the MOPS price index. (*)