Pertamina will soon invite bids for procurement of LPG containers

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina will soon invite bids for the procurement of new 235,000 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) containers, with a capacity of 3 kilograms to support the government's campaign to convert the use of kerosene to LPG, Antara news agency reported Friday.

Pertamina's marketing and commercial director Achmad Faisal said in Jakarta on Thursday that the new 3-kg LPG containers should be available before the government begins the pilot project for the conversion of kerosene to LPG in September this year.

Speaking after a hearing between the ministry of energy and mineral resources with the Commission VII of the House of Representatives, Achmad said that local companies would be given a privilege to take part in the tender for the procurement of the new LPG containers.

"But if the price offered by local companies are 15 percent or higher than those of imported products, we would prefer to import so that we can reduce the costs," he said, adding that the procurement of the 3-kg LPG containers would be subsidized by the government. "We are still calculating the ideal price for the LPG container," he said.

The government has said that Pertamina needed to procure at least 121 million 3-kg LPG containers to support its ambitious program to replace heavily subsidized kerosene with LPG. (*)