TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – State-owned oil and gas firmPertamina has said that the subsidized fuel consumption in 2014 potentially exceeds the quota since the fuel control policy has been ceased yesterday. Pertamina’s marketing and commercial director Hanung Budya projected the excess of subsidized fuel consumption would be at 1.35 million kiloliters.
“If the quota was not increased, while we did nothing about it, the [subsidized] Premium and Solar [diesel fuel] would run out by December,” Hanung said on Wednesday, August 27, 2014.
The government has trimmed the subsidized fuel quota from the initial 48 million kiloliters in the 2014 Revised State Budget to 46 million kiloliters. Pertamina, Hanung said, was set to provide 45.35 kiloliters of subsidized fuels that cover 29.29 million kiloliters of Premium, 15.16 million kiloliters of Solar and 900,000 kiloliters of kerosene.
Data from Pertamina revealed that the average demands for premium by the end of July would be 81,132 kiloliters, while the consumption of Solar was projected at 42.207 kiloliters. Based on the remaining quota, the daily quota for Premium and Solar would be 80,240 kiloliters and 41,452 kiloliters, respectively.
“It means the quota deficit is alarming,” Hanung said.
Earlier, the government instructed Pertamina to normalize the subsidized fuel distribution to prevent long queues at gas-filling stations. Pertamina's vice president of corporate communications, Ali Mundakir, announced that Pertamina had lifted the subsidized fuel limits since Tuesday night, August 26, 2014.
AYU PRIMA SANDI
