Gasoline shortage hits several cities

Gasoline shortage hits several cities

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of cars were seen queuing at ten
gasoline stations in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar on
Tuesday following gasoline shortages in the city since Monday.

The cars arrived at the gasoline stations in the morning and
many of them left in the afternoon after waiting for gasoline.

Some of the gasoline stations were overwhelmed by the
vehicles.

Gasoline station owners said that the shortage of gasoline was
due to late supply from the state oil and gas company Pertamina.

The Pangayoman gas station on Jl. AP Pettarani operated only
one of its four pumps as the delivery of gasoline and diesel fuel
from Pertamina's Balikpapan refinery in East Kalimantan had been
behind schedule since Monday, Antara reported.

Spokesman for Pertamina's Makassar office Winarto confirmed
the late gas supply from Balikpapan.

"The tanker carrying 14,000 kiloliters of fuel from Balikpapan
will only enter Makassar on Tuesday," said Winarto.

In Yogyakarta, at least five out of around 40 gasoline
stations had to close before noon due to short supply.

The five gasoline stations are located on Jl. Prof. Herman
Yohannes, Jl. Godean, Jl. Wates, Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto, Jl.
Kusumanegara and Jl. Kali Urang.

An attendant at a gasoline station on Jl. Kali Urang said that
Pertamina had cut the supply by half three days ago.

"We order 30 tons of gasoline per day but we got only 15 tons
to 16 tons," said the attendant, who wished to remain anonymous.

Another station attendant said that the gasoline was finished
by 11 a.m. and the more supplies would be delivered at about 1
a.m. or 2 a.m. the following day.

Yogyakarta's Pertamina office claimed that there was nothing
wrong with the supply to the gasoline stations and that its
gasoline and diesel fuel stock in Rowulu depot, west of
Yogyakarta, was secure.

"The fuel shortage in the five gasoline stations is caused by
distribution problems and we have nothing to do with that," the
office head Bambang Saritono told reporters at his office on
Tuesday.

He said the Rowulu depot held 21,752 kiloliters of diesel
fuel, 13,313 kiloliters of gasoline and 18,000 kiloliters of
kerosene.

In the Central Java seaport town of Cilacap a tanker, MT
Gebang, carrying 600,000 barrels of crude oil from the Arjuna rig
off the Java Sea was unable to enter the harbor as 500
traditional ships belonging to local fishermen blocked the
passage with 1,400 fishing nets spread along the sea lane.

The tanker has had to anchor five miles out of the harbor for
two days since Sunday.

Local authorities, including Marine Police and the Navy
managed to persuade the fishermen to clear the way for the tanker
at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

Pertamina's local office spokesman Husni Banser said to the
Post that his office had suffered more than Rp 200 million in
losses.

Chairman of Cilacap branch of the Indonesian Fishermen's
Association Atas Munandar confirmed that the fisherman had
blocked the sea lane, "but it was because the fishermen wished to
fish after more than one week of being idle due to the scarcity
of diesel fuel for their ships." (44/45/sur)