Fuel Price Hike Rumours Cause Queues at Private Petrol Stations in West Jakarta to Spill onto Streets
JAKARTA – Several private fuel stations in the Grogol Petamburan area, West Jakarta, were swarmed by motorists on Tuesday afternoon (31 March 2026).
Vehicle queues snaked onto the main road, reportedly triggered by news circulating on social media about a rise in the price of non-subsidised fuel.
Based on observations at two private fuel stations on Jalan Daan Mogot, queues of two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles extended onto the arterial road.
A similar situation occurred at the Vivo fuel station located opposite the site. Motorists were willing to queue for more than 15 minutes to refuel.
Rizki (27), a resident of Grogol Petamburan, said he deliberately joined the queue after work even though his motorbike’s fuel tank was still half full. He had heard news that the price of non-subsidised fuel would increase starting Wednesday (1 April 2026).
“It’s not empty yet, still half, but they say it’s going up tomorrow, so I’ll fill it up first. As a boarding house student, even a small difference really hits when it comes to petrol,” Rizki told Kompas.com at the location on Tuesday.
Rizki said he obtained the information from a document circulating on social media stamped as confidential. According to him, the document looked credible because it featured the letterhead of Danantara Indonesia.
“It seems true, but I don’t know for sure since I haven’t seen the news. But given the current war situation, it wouldn’t be surprising if prices go up,” said Rizki.
Meanwhile, Arbi (28), another resident, expressed concern after seeing news of a fuel price increase of up to Rp 5,000 per litre for RON 92 type. He was reluctant to switch to subsidised fuel due to past trauma over issues with adulterated petrol.
Nevertheless, Arbi stressed that he did not want to engage in excessive purchasing (panic buying) since the information had not been confirmed.
He refuelled in the afternoon because his motorbike’s tank was indeed almost empty after being used for work activities.
“If possible, we shouldn’t have panic buying, although on the other hand, the government shouldn’t raise prices too steeply either. But as the public, we also shouldn’t panic buy and end up causing a fuel crisis,” said Arbi.
One of the fuel station staff, Budi (not his real name), revealed that the surge in customers had been occurring since Tuesday morning. According to him, most motorists came due to being influenced by the news of the fuel price increase.
“It’s been busy suddenly since this morning. Actually, it’s always busy here, but this morning it got really crowded. Most of them ask, ‘Bro, is it true the price is going up tomorrow?’” said Budi.
However, he emphasised that there had been no official information from the company regarding a fuel price increase as of yet.
Budi also assured that the fuel stock at his workplace fuel station was still in safe condition and not experiencing shortages.