Pertamina to import 11.5m kiloliters of fuel

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina plans to import up to 11.5 million kiloliters of fuel in March, up about 15 percent from about 10 million kiloliters in January.

Pertamina's deputy director for marketing and commerce, Hanung Budya said in Jakarta Wednesday the increase in the fuel imports would be needed to meet the surging fuel demand in March.

The Premium gasoline imports would increase to 3.5 million kiloliters from 2.8 million kiloliters, while diesel fuel imports would rise to 6 million kiloliters from 5 million, he said.

According to him, local market's fuel demand is relatively low in January and February and begin to increase in March to reach its peak in June. (godang)