Pertamina Trims Subsidized Fuel Quota
25 August 2014 20:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina said it had to curb its daily subsidized fuel allocation at all gas-filling stations as part of its efforts to implement the government’s fuel control policy.
“We have to choose between leaving the [subsidized] fuel consumption normally until it runs out in December and distributing it based on the daily quota,” Pertamina’s marketing and commercial director Hanung Budya said on Monday, August 25, 2014.
According to Hanung, the daily quota for subsidized fuels Premium and Solar (diesel fuel) at gas stations had been reduced by 5 percent and 10-15 percent, respectively.
He took for example that if a gas station's normal quota of subsidized fuels was 20,000 kiloliters, then it had been reduced by 1,000 kiloliters as of August 18, 2014.
Hanung explained that beginning August 18, 2014 the daily quota of Premium gasoline at each gas station would be reduced by 1,000 liters if the normal quota was 20,000. He added the 1,000 kiloliters would be replaced by non-subsidized fuels such as Pertamax and Petamax Dex gasoline.
Pertamina’s spokesperson Ali Mundakir said the implementation of the policy was in keeping with the Law No. 21/2014 on the 2014 State Budget.
“We have calculated the remaining quota of the subsidized fuels to be distributed to the people,” Ali said.
According to Ali, the cut in the daily quota for subsidized fuels was not aimed at saving the subsidized fuels, but rather ensuring that the quota set by the government at 46 million kiloliters would last until December 2014.
AYU PRIMA SANDI