Pertamina to buy 13.08 million barrels of oil products for August

Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina will buy 13.08 million barrels of oil products for August, the Dow Jones Newswires reported on Thursday citing a senior official with the company as saying.

"We have already secured as much as 80 percent of the planned purchase," said Ari Sumarno, a Pertamina director.

He said Pertamina will buy the remainder from the spot market.

The purchases are aimed at meeting local demand for fuel.

The government recently limited the distribution of fuel supplies in an effort to promote fuel conservation amid record-high global oil prices that have threatened to push up government fuel price subsidies.

The plan has created gasoline shortages in parts of Indonesia and swelled the ranks of increasingly irate motorists who are encountering long lines at service stations.

For crude oil supply in August, he said Pertamina needs to buy 12 million barrels, adding that it has already secured 80 percent.

For September, Pertamina will buy 14.58 million barrels of oil products, of which 50 percent has already been secured, while the rest will be bought from the spot market, he added.

Pertamina will buy 7 million barrels of crude for September, of which around 60 percent has already been secured. (*)