Pertamina cancels plan to export diesel fuel

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has canceled an earlier plan to export diesel fuel due to rising demand at home particularly from the coal mining sector.

Pertamina Marketing Director Muchamad Iskandar was quoted as saying by news portal kontan.co.id that its diesel stock has now declined to 22-day supply from 26-day supply last month. As such, the company will not export the diesel fuel in the near future.

Last month, the company?s diesel stock stood at 1.87 million kilo liters, enough for 26-day supply, or higher than the minimum requirement of 19-day supply.

Pertamina said last month it obtained in August a permit from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to export diesel fuel amid excess supply and weaker demand at home.

Director General of Oil and Gas Ego Syahrial said last month that Pertamina has been given export permit on the condition that it must first fulfill domestic demand. (*)