British tableware producer Royal Doulton has asked the government to resolve recent problems concerning gas supplies to the nation's ceramics industry against the backdrop of the company's plan to invest another US$28 million in Indonesia. The issue has become a major consideration for the company in deciding whether to invest more in Indonesia's ceramic industry, Royal Doulton CEO Sir Anthony O'Reilly said after a meeting Wednesday with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Strong exports and reviving consumption helped push Indonesia's economy in the first quarter, momentum that could see it grow even faster over the course of the year. First-quarter growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) was at 6 percent year-on-year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported Tuesday, from last year's first quarter. On a quarterly basis, the size of Indonesia's economy grew by 2 percent to Rp 915.9 trillion (US$101.7 billion), from last year's final quarter.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government has licensed foreign oil and gas companies Shell and Petronas to build gas stations outside Java later this year, an Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry official said. "But I cannot mention where the gas stations will be built," the director of downstream business development at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Erie Soedarmo, said here on Thursday. The two companies currently run a number of gas stations in Jakarta and environs.