National fuel demand rises three percent

The country's total fuel demand rose by about three percent following the devastating earthquake which hit Yogkarta and Central Java last week.

Pertamina reported Friday that the increase in the vehicle mobility to Yogyakarta and Central Java following the earthquake had caused the rise in the national Premium fuel demand to 70,000 kiloliters per day from 60,000 kiloliters per day in normal days.

"The demand for Premium fuel had even increased by 200 percent per day after the quake," the head of Pertamina?s fuel division, Djaelani Sutomo said. However, unlike the Premium fuel, the demand for diesel oil remained normal at about 65,000 kiloliters per day, he added.

Djaelani said that Pertamina planned to increase fuel imports to about 8.2 million barrels in June to meet the expected increase in the demand for diesel oil from the state owned electricity company PLN.

"PLN would likely increase the use of diesel oil in June to about 600 barrels," he said, adding that the premium oil demand was expected to further increase by 10 percent during the school holiday in July. (godang)