Shell applies for permanent license to sell fuel

Dutch-British energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has applied for a permanent license to sell fuel in the country, a senior governmental official said on Thursday.

Erie Soedarmo, downstream director at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said the firm was the first foreign company to apply such a license.

?We have issued several principle licensees to several investors interested to enter the country?s downstream sector. But, the firm is the first to apply for the permanent license,? Erie said.

He did not divulge many details on the contents of the license applied by the company, saying only the firm wanted to sell non-regulated fuel ?most likely? for areas in Sumatra and Java.

Non-regulated fuels are the types of fuel, whose prices are not regulated by the government. The government now regulates the prices for kerosene, Premium gasoline, industrial diesel oil, automotive diesel oil, and bunker oil. It however gives freedom for fuel producers to set prices for unleaded and high-octane gasoline. Among the non-regulated fuel now available on the market is Pertamax gasoline produced by state oil and gas company Pertamina.

The government has planned to liberalize the nation?s oil and gas downstream sector later this year to allow companies other than Pertamina, the decades-long monopoly holder of the sector, to sell fuel on the domestic market. (Alex/Godang)