Fuel prices for June mostly unchanged

Fuel prices for June mostly unchanged

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina announced on Friday that the price list of fuel products for the month of June would remain the same as levels in May except for fuel oil.

Pertamina said in a statement that the price of premium gasoline, for instance, would remain at the ceiling price of Rp 1,750 (19 U.S. cents) per liter.

Kerosene for households and small industries will also remain at Rp 600 per liter.

But the price for fuel oil will be raised to Rp 1,150 from Rp 1,120 per liter, Pertamina said.

People had expected fuel prices to decline in June due to the recent strengthening of the rupiah to the U.S. dollar, but the government indicated that prices would not go down because crude oil prices on the international market were still relatively high, and hovering at about $25 per barrel.

Since March, the government has set fuel prices at home based monthly on the price of oil in neighboring Singapore (Mid Oil Platts Singapore or MOPS). An exception is the price of kerosene for households and small industries.

The government, however, has set a maximum and minimum price level for fuel products to avoid extreme fluctuations.

Premium gasoline, for instance, has a minimum price of Rp 1,450 and a ceiling of Rp 1,750.