Pertamina to audit fuel stock of industries

The state oil and gas firm Pertamina will conduct an audit into the fuel stock of industries which are asking for more supply, according to company production and exploration director Gatot K. Wiroyudo.

Gatot was quoted by the Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying that the audit measure would only be applied for three months, and had started since this month.

He said that the measure was part of efforts to anticipate possible manipulation of fuel demand by industries.

Gatot added that Pertamina would also introduce a more modern distribution system avoid manipulation of demand.

Fuel smuggling out of the country had been rampant. There's been allegation that certain industries had been manipulating their fuel demand to smuggle the subsidized fuel products out of the country. (*)