Pertamina allowed to export diesel

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has approved state owned oil and gas company Pertamina?s request to export part of its excess diesel fuel stock but with a condition that the company would guarantee that the export would not affect the supply for the domestic market.

Evita Legowo, the Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry, acknowledged Tuesday that the ministry had approved the export request and that it had recommended the trade ministry to issue an export permit for the oil and gas company.

She, however, said that the Pertamina would be allowed to export only until March this year and with a condition that the export should be carried out only if all the company?s diesel tanks had been filled at their full capacity.

Separately, Pertamina?s president director Ari H. Soemarno said that the company had yet not decided the total volume of diesel to be exported and their export destinations. ?The matter is being discussed,? he added.

Sources, however, said that Pertamina would likely export between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels of diesel in the middle of this month.

Pertamina had asked for the government?s approval to export part of its diesel stocks since January because the company?s existing tanks could no longer able to receive additional supply from its refineries.

The company?s marketing director Achmad Faisal said earlier that the company had been in excess of diesel stocks due to the decline in the demand from businesses amid a slowdown in the activities of the local industrial sector. (*)