Pertamina to spend Rp 3.8 trillion to build COCO fuel stations

State owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina will spend up to Rp 3.8 trillion (1US$ = Rp 9,500) to build new fuel filling stations within the next five years, the company?s senior official has said.

Director for Marketing and Commerce Ahmad Faisal said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the new filling stations would be part of the company?s expansion into the fuel retail business.

The COCO (company owned, company operated) filling stations will directly operated by Pertamina. Most of Pertamina?s filling stations are currently operated by private firms under the state oil and gas company?s licenses.

He did not mention the total number of new COCO-type filling stations to be built by the firm with the Rp 3.8 trillion investment. But, he said that a filling station will cost between Rp 5 billion and Rp 24 billion to build, depending on their location and storage capacities.

At present, Pertamina operates 46 COCO stations in the country?s major cities. Each station sells an average of 50,000 liters of fuel a day. Faisal said that Pertamina planned to build 50 more filling stations next year which will increase the number of the company?s COCO stations to 96. (*)