Fuel stocks at safe level: Pertamina

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National fuel stocks have reportedly returned to a safe level at a 22-day consumption level, meaning there would not be a fuel shortage ahead of the presidential election, state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said in a statement on Thursday.

Pertamina's spokesman M. Harun said the stocks would further increase to a level of 24 days of consumption by the end of this month.

Concerning fuel shortages, which reportedly hit several regions in the past couple of weeks, Harun said it was due to bad weather at sea, which hampered fuel shipments.

"Technical problems" related to the management of the fuel supply was also a factor behind the shortages, he added, without providing details.

"The problems have been solved. Schedules for distribution of crude oil and other fuel have returned to normal. Operations in the refineries have been increased to near 100 percent capacity," Harun said.

The consumption of Premium gasoline has increased by 5 percent from 41,500 kiloliters a day to 43,000 kiloliters a day during the presidential election campaign as it did during legislative elections in April.

"It is within the normal range given the increasing public activities related to the general elections," Harun said.

He added that consumption of automotive diesel fuel had increased by 6 percent due to rising consumption by state utility firm PT PLN.

PT PLN is using more automotive diesel fuel to fire its power plants as the dry season has reduced output at the firm's hydropower plants.