Pertamina to cut March fuel import

State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said it planned further cuts to March fuel imports that are already below the previous year?s levels to reduce stockpiles amid falling demand, The Jakarta Post reported on Saturday.

The company plans to import 6.4 million barrels of fuel in March, 25 percent less than an earlier plan to buy as much as 8.5 million barrels, company spokesman Abadi Poernomo said Friday. He forecast April imports at 6.4 million barrels.

?We?re going to cut imports next month because consumption is still lower and our stockpiles are still very high,? Abadi told reporters. ?We expect April?s imports to be at the same level.?

Pertamina has been reducing monthly fuel imports since December because demand fell by about 15 percent after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono raised fuel prices by more than 100 percent on Oct. 1 to reduce the nation?s budget deficit. The country bought about 12 million barrels of oil products a month from overseas on average before prices rose.

Pertamina plans to import 6.4 million tons of oil products in February, about 22 percent lower than January?s level, spokesman Mohammad Harun said Jan. 25.

Indonesia?s fuel demand is 15 percent below the company?s target, Abadi said.

Local fuel consumption is at 142,000 kiloliters a day, compared with Pertamina?s sales target of 166,000 kiloliters, Pertamina said in an emailed statement Friday. The country?s fuel stockpiles stand at 26.3 days of consumption this week, compared with a target level of 22 days, it said.

Pertamina has halved automotive diesel imports to 3.6 million barrels this month, from 7.2 million barrels in January, the statement said. The company cut imports of gasoline by 57 percent to 1.8 million barrels in February from the previous month, it said.

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 is not sufficient to meet domestic fuel demand.

Pertamina plans to set fuel prices for industrial users every two weeks, instead of once a month at present, to better reflect market prices, Abadi said. (*)