Pertamina Scraps Plan to Increase LPG Price
18 August 2014 09:34 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Pertamina announced that they had canceled the plan to increase the price of 12-kg LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) canister in August as the government has stalled the approval.
“We decided to postpone the price increase until the government said otherwise,” Gigih Wahyu Hari Irianto, Pertamina’s Vice President for Domestic Gas, told Tempo on August 17, 2014.
According to Gigih, Pertamina had followed the Supreme Auditor Body’s (BPK) recommendation to increase the price of 12-kg LPG canister. In addition, Pertamina had consulted the plan with the government on January.
“What’s important for us is the legality of the plan because we are following the mandate [from the BPK],” Gigih said.
Earlier, Coordinating Economic Minister Chairul Tanjung said that the decision to increase the price of 12-kg LPG canister was on the government’s hands. Pertamina, Chairul said, should propose the plan to the president before it was enforced.
Meanwhile, Pertamina spokesperson Ali Mundakir said that the decision to increase the LPG price was Pertamina’s prerogative right and would not need government’s approval.
“Based on the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s regulation, we only need to report it [the plan to increase LPG price] to the government, not to ask permission,” Ali said on Wednesday, August 13, 2014.
AYU PRIMA SANDI
