Pertamina increases LPG price for industry

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina announced Friday it would increase the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for industry by between 30 percent and 36 percent. The price hike will be effective on Monday, September 11, 2006.

?The LPG bulk price for industry will be increased from Rp3,879 per kg to Rp5,071 per kg at Pertamina's filling plant and to Rp5,280 per kg at the company's filling and transportation bulk LPG plant. The price hike has included sale tax of 10 percent,? said Pertamina?s head of the government and the public relations affairs Toharso in a press conference in Jakarta Friday.

The price of LPG for household consumption available in containers with a capacity of 50 kg, 12 kg, 6 kg and 3 kg will remain unchanged, at Rp4,250 per kg.

Toharso said that Pertamina?s move to increase the price of LPG for industry was taken to adjust the price to market price that had shown an increasing trend driven by the increase in the price of LPG in international market.

The LPG commodity was priced at US$369.9 per ton in January 2005 but it has risen to US$560.9 per ton in September 2006.

?Currently, LPG is Pertamina?s pure business that is exempted from the government subsidy,? he added. (godang)