Pertamina to export 381,000 kl of kerosene

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina plans to export 381,624 kiloliters (kl) of kerosene within the period of April to June 2010.

?Pertamina will export to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam,? Evita Legowo, Director General of Oil and Gas at the ministry of energy and mineral resources said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Pertamina's spokesman Basuki Trikora Putra told reporters the company has found a buyer from Vietnam for 400,000 barrels of kerosene for this month.

Pertamina is also seeking buyers for 400,000 barrels of kerosene each for May and June, he said.

In September last year, Pertamina dropped its plan to export kerosene because there were no companies willing to buy the fuel at the prices offered by the firm. Pertamina?s spokesperson Basuki Trikora Putra said that Pertamina sold the fuel on the domestic market instead.

Pertamina plans to export 1.2 million barrels of kerosene produced by its refineries as domestic demand for the fuel was dwindling due to success of the government-sponsored campaign to persuade households to switch from heavily-subsidized kerosene to lightly-subsidized LPG. (bernard)