Shell to open 10 gas stations in 2010

PT Shell Indonesia, the local subsidiary of oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, will further expand its distribution network in Indonesia although the company has not yet secured distribution rights to sell subsidized fuel, Kontan reported on Wednesday.

Shell?s Vice President/Country Manager Wally Saleh said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the company planned to open at least 10 more retail outlets in Java and Sumatra as part of the expansion plan.

At present, Shell operates 36 retail outlets in Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi (Jabodetabek) area and Surabaya, East Java.

Wally said that a retail outlet was currently being built in Medan as part of the expansion plan in Sumatra. ?But the construction of the Medan outlet has not run as expected due to a problem in land acquisition,? he said.

Besides Medan, Shell planned to open retail outlets in Surabaya and Bandung.

He said the expansion of the distribution network was part of the company?s business strategy to become a distributor of subsidized fuels, which account for about 80 percent of the fuel sales in the country. At present, Shell only sells non-subsidized fuels. (*)