Hurricane Rita hampers Indonesian oil imports

State oil and gas Pertamina said Friday that Hurricane Rita that hit the US was hampering Indonesia's imports of oil products as most shipments are diverted to the US.

Pertamina needs to import 15 million barrels of oil products in October but remains 5% below that target, Pertamina's marketing and trading director, Ari Sumarno, told reporters.

"Pertamina has so far only secured 95% of oil (product) import needs for October," Sumarno said, without elaborating on the type of oil products he was referring to.

"We still need about one or two cargoes."

One cargo consists of 600,000 to 800,000 barrels.

Ari Sumarno also said that Pertamina's efforts to secure adequate oil product supplies for November are hindered by U.S. purchases of much of the oil supply on the world market in advance of possible Hurricane Rita-related disruptions.

"For November, Pertamina has secured only 60% of the (needed) oil imports of 14 million barrels," he said, without elaborating.

Pertamina's supply woes reflect the widening impact of Hurricane Rita's challenge to global oil product supply due to the threat the storm poses to key U.S. oil refining areas in Texas and Louisiana.

U.S. authorities have downgraded Hurricane Rita to a Category 4 storm from a more severe Category 5, but it's already shaken markets and spooked oil importers still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Katrina, which damaged oil facilities along the Louisiana coast.

The devastation left in Katrina's wake helped push crude oil prices on the global market above a record US$70 a barrel late last month.

Pertamina's supply problems also highlight how a lack of investment in Indonesia's oil exploration and production sector has left the sole Southeast Asian member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries vulnerable to oil import disruptions.

Indonesia will be a net oil importer in 2005 due to faltering output, Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Aburizal Bakrie, said last month.(*)