Pertamina raises April fuel imports by 1m barrels

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina, raised oil product imports for April by 1 million barrels as domestic output fell because of a refinery shutdown.

The purchases will consist of 600,000 barrels of diesel and 400,000 barrels of gasoline, Achmad Faisal, director of trading and marketing at the company, told reporters in Jakarta Friday.

"We have secured some of the additional fuel imports, but need to look for the rest," said Faisal. He didn't elaborate. Pertamina had planned to purchase 7.4 million barrels of fuel in April.

The company shut down a vacuum unit of its Dumai refinery on Sumatra island for unplanned maintenance work on April 12. The unit will start operating again on April 23, said Suroso Atmomartoyo, the company's processing director.

Indonesia imports about a third of its oil products because its daily refining capacity of 1.06 million barrels isn't sufficient to meet domestic demand. Pertamina reduced monthly fuel imports from December until March because demand fell by about 15 percent after the government almost tripled fuel prices on Oct. 1 to cut the nation's budget deficit.

Consumption of gasoline increased 12 percent this month to 47,000 kiloliters per day as compared with March, said Faisal.

"We don't know yet whether this is caused by an improving economy or people stocking up on concerns of high oil prices."

The Indonesian government subsidizes gasoline with research octane number of 88 for individual users and caps its price.

Pertamina sells high-octane gasoline with research octane number of 94 and 95 at market prices. (*)