Pertamina signs SOP agreement with LPG suppliers
Wednesday, April 9 2014 - 12:27 AM WIB
State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina has signed agreements on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) with five local private liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) suppliers.
The SOP agreements were signed on March 28, Pertamina said in a statement obtained on Tuesday. The firm however did not provide details on the content of the agreements.
The five LPG suppliers are PT Perta-Samtan Gas, PT Sura Esa Perkasa, both operating in southern Sumatra; PT Media Karya Sentosa, TPPI Tuban, both operating in East Java; and Pertagas Pondok Tengah operating in West Java.
Pertamina said the private domestic LPG producers accounted for 5 percent of LPG supplies to Pertamina last year. Aside from these companies, Pertamina got 12 percent of its LPG needs from its own LPG plants and 25 percent from PSC holders last year. The largest portion, 58 percent or around 3.3 million tons, was imported, mainly from the Middle East.
The firm noted Indonesia now very much depends on foreign supplies for LPG and the imports could be even bigger in the future following the success of kerosene-to-LPG conversion program.
The firm thus expects that local producers may increase their production in order to cut the country?s dependence on LPG imports.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon