PLN Agrees to Diesel Fuel Price from Pertamina
11 August 2014 19:38 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – State electricity company PT PLN has agreed to the new price of diesel fuel, locally known as solar, proposed by state-run oil and gas firm PT Pertamina at 109.5 percent of the Mean of Plats Singapore (MOPS). However, the agreement will only be effective from July to December 2014.
"We have issued a letter stating that PLN has agreed to the [diesel fuel] price proposed by Pertamina for the second semester,” said Suryadi Mardjoeki, PLN’s oil and gas fuel division head, on Monday, August 11, 2014.
According to Suryadi, the decision was made in a joint meeting between PLN and the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on Thursday, August 7, 2014. However, Suryadi said, some issues with the price hike were still unresolved since Pertamina wanted the new price to take effect beginning January 2013 to 2015.
Suryadi revealed that in 2013 PLN had signed a contract of purchase price at 107.8 percent of the MOPS. However, Pertamina found that the profitable price for Pertamina should be at 109.5 percent of the MOPS, so that PLN still needed to pay the price difference.
On Thursday, Deputy ESDM Minister Susilo Siswoutomo said Pertamina and PLN had been in touch to resolve the diesel fuel price issue.
“The deal is that Pertamina will still supply diesel fuel [for PLN], while the bills will be considered. Of course, the government will help PLN,” Susio said.
Susilo said the issue involving both state companies was complicated. On the one hand, the amount of bills to be paid by PLN is always smaller than the cost incurred to supply the fuel, causing Pertamina to suffer losses. On the other hand, PLN cannot pay for the fuel because the subsidized fuel quota is limited.
AYU PRIMA SANDI
