PGN to open up 16 new gas filling stations in 2014

State-controlled gas distribution company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk (PGN) plans to open up 16 new gas filling stations next year as part of efforts to support the government?s campaign for motorists to convert to cheaper gas instead of more expensive petroleum fuel.

The gas stations will be opened in West Java, East Java, and Riau with total investment of about Rp 260 billion.

This was said by the company in a statement seen Tuesday after the inauguration of its first gas filling station in the heavily populated area of Bekasi, West Java.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by top government and PGN officials including Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik, who said in his opening remarks that the opening up gas filling station by PGN forms part of efforts to help reduce the consumption of pricey petroleum fuel in the country, part of which still subsidized by the government.

In 2014 alone, the volume of subsidized fuel is projected at 48 million kilo liters, with amount of subsidy forecast to jump to Rp 250 trillion from the initial estimate of about Rp 200 trillion due to the drop of the value of the rupiah against the US dollar.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak