Fuels prices down 5%

Starting on Monday consumers are paying 5-6 percent lower prices for high-octane fuels of Pertamax, Pertamax Plus and Pertamax DEX.

State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina spokesman Mochamad Harun said in a release distributed on Monday that the firm lowered prices for Pertamax and Pertamax Plus by Rp 300 (3 U.S. cents) per liter from Rp 5,700 and Rp 5,900 a liter respectively.

The reduction is slightly higher that a previous statement made by Pertamina's fuel division head, Achmad Faisal, on Friday that prices for the two fuels would be lowered by Rp 200 a liter.

As for Pertamina DEX -- high-octane diesel fuel -- the price is dropping 6 percent, down from Rp 6,300 a liter to Rp 5,900.

The company said the lower prices of non-subsidized fuels were due to the falling global oil prices and the Mid Oil Plat Singapore prices by an average of 3 percent.

Pertamina said the national consumption of Pertamax and Pertamax Plus only reached around 500 kilo liters (kl) per day this year, much lower than last year's daily average consumption of 2,000 kl.

The drastic decrease was due to the skyrocketing retail price of the two fuels from Rp 2,450 per liter of Pertamax to Rp 4,000 and from Rp 2,750 per liter of Pertamax Plus to Rp 4,200 last December. The government removed the subsidies on the fuel because of the soaring international cost of oil.

Pertamina now faces competition in the retail sector after Royal Dutch Shell Plc. entered the market in early November, opening its first gas station in Karawaci, west of Jakarta. Shell sells its high-octane products, with specifications similar to Pertamina's, at the same price. -- JP