Pertamina opens 5 additional gas refill stations

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina opened on Thursday five additional gas refill stations in Jakarta as it moves to expand the market of its liquefied gas for vehicle (LGV) product known under the brand of Vi-Gas.

The company said in a statement that Pertamina now has a total of 23 Vi-Gas refill stations, including 17 in the Greater Jakarta Area, three in Bali, and one each in Semarang, Bandung and Yogyakarta.

Pertamina Marketing Director Achmad Bambang said in a statement that the company is quite serious in developing the Vi-Gas market as part of efforts to support the government?s campaign for motorists and households to switch from petroleum fuel to gas.

He said Pertamina is currently in the process of completing the construction of Vi-Gas refill stations in Solo and Surabaya. The company has set a target of developing 55 stations each year.

Aside from Vi-Gas, Pertamina is also moving to to push for the use of gas in the form of LNG, currently in pilot project, and in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG) with the Envogas brand in a bid to reduce the consumption of petroleum fuel.

He said that the consumption of Vi-Gas and Envogas currently stands at around 0.1 percent of the consumption of subsidized fuel products.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak