Pertamina raises fuel imports

State oil company PT Pertamina raised fuel imports 16 percent in April compared with March to compensate for lower domestic production after a West Java refinery shut down last month, The Jakarta Post reported on Thursday.

Pertamina will import 7.4 million barrels of fuel in April, company spokesman Mohammad Harun said in Jakarta Wednesday The company shut the 125,000 barrel-a-day Balongan refinery for three days starting March 17 because of an electricity fault, Harun said.

?Fuel stockpiles from Balongan were empty for a few days because of the fault,? Harun said. ?We?re building inventories to compensate for the loss.?

Indonesia, the second-smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries by output, imports about a third of its oil products each year because its daily refining capacity of 1.06 million barrels isn?t sufficient to meet domestic fuel demand. (*)