Pertamina to cut fuel imports further

PT Pertamina said it plans further cuts to fuel imports that are already below year-earlier levels to reduce stockpiles amid falling demand, agency reported.

The company plans to import 6.4 million barrels of fuel in February, 15.8 percent less than an earlier plan to buy as much as 7.6 million tons, Jakarta-based company spokesman Mohammad Harun said on Wednesday. The cut leaves February imports 22percent lower than the 8.2 million barrels to be shipped this month, he said.

"We're cutting imports further because fuel demand is still 15 percent below our sales target," Harun said. "It will help us to reduce our costs resulting from high stockpiles and to save on our dollar spending amid the rising price of crude oil."

Pertamina has been reducing monthly fuel imports since December because demand fell by about 15 percent after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono almost tripled fuel prices on Oct. 1 to reduce the nation's budget deficit. The country bought about 12million barrels of oil products a month from overseas on average before prices rose.

Pertamina has canceled plans to import one 150,000-barrel cargo of research-octane number 88 gasoline for January delivery because of limited storage capacity, Harun said. Indonesia's fuel stockpiles stand at 27 days of consumption compared with a targetlevel of 22 days, he said.

"We're cutting out sales target for February to 166,000 kiloliters a day and making efforts to gradually reduce stockpiles to between 20 and 22 days of consumption," Harun said. (*)