Kerosene everywhere but not a drop to buy

The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru/Medan/Makassar

Sutarmi reluctantly handed over a copy of her family card in order to purchase five liters of kerosene from a kerosene agent in Tanjung Datuk, Pekanbaru.

"It's like we're back in 1965. We have to line up to buy basic necessities," grumbled the 66-year-old woman on Tuesday.

The jamu (traditional tonic) seller became more upset after learning that she had to pay Rp 1,700 a liter, although the government has not raised the price of household kerosene from Rp 700 a liter.

"People say Riau is rich with oil. So why is kerosene so hard to come by? And expensive, more's the pity. I was told the President would help us, but he is only making us suffer. I regret voting for him," said the old woman in a thick Javanese accent.

Ironically, despite the scarcity of kerosene, state oil company Pertamina has decided to cut the kerosene supply in Riau from 231 million liters in 2004 to only 225 million liters this year.

"Pertamina should have increased the kerosene supply in Riau, not reduced it. They have made the wrong decision," said head of trade and industry Emrizal Pakis.

Riau Governor HM Rusli Zainal blamed speculators for the kerosene scarcity in the province over the last month.

"I have not closed my eyes to the actions of speculators," he told The Jakarta Post. "I have asked police and military chiefs to arrest those responsible for the kerosene scarcity and the suffering of the people."

A kerosene shortage has also been reported in Medan, forcing Dora Siahaan, a Medan Barat district resident, to go to several agents in search of the fuel.

However, despite the presence of 20 agents in her village, there was no kerosene to be had. Anytime people wanted to buy kerosene, the agent would say it was running out, she said.

"It's been three days, I cannot get kerosene anywhere. Many people here are disappointed because there are plenty of kerosene agents around but the kerosene is not there. Where has it all gone?" asked the 34-year-old woman.

Across North Sumatra, people are learning to make do without kerosene. Zulham, a resident of Tanjung Beringin in Serdang Bedagai regency, said he had been unable to get kerosene from any of the 15 agents in his neighborhood, although each agent had received 5,000 liters of kerosene from Pertamina.

"The funny thing is, the agents seem to be able to supply certain people with kerosene -- maybe they pay more than us," he said, adding that a liter of kerosene was priced at Rp 1,000.

Reinhard Simarmata, executive director of Bintang Rakyat, a non-governmental organization concerned with fuel issues, blamed speculators for the scarcity, saying his group had identified several places allegedly being used by speculators to accumulate a stockpile of kerosene.

He said the places included Medan Belawan, Medan Marelan and Medan Labuhan districts.

"From our monitoring, there are around seven locations in the three districts that have a stockpile of fuel. The places cannot be touched by the law because they are allegedly backed up by security personnel," Reinhard said.

He said such locations could also be found in Deli Serdang, Langkat, Tanjung Balai and Asahan regencies.

Reinhard said the speculators preferred to sell their fuel to industries and shipping companies for a bigger profit. Industrial kerosene is now priced at Rp 2,200 per liter.

He blamed the widespread practice on the weak control exercised by Pertamina, accusing the company of ignoring the practice due to its employees' involvement.

Pertamina's head of public relations in Medan, Juliadi, denied the allegations. He said he had not received reports on agents that were accumulating kerosene, but promised to revoke the permit of any agent found guilty of the practice.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, people have become accustomed to queuing up to buy kerosene.

Wawan, 35, had to walk home holding an empty container after waiting for an hour to buy five liters of kerosene from an agent on Jl. Lamuru. The kerosene was finished before his turn arrived.

"I heard the agent on Jl. Tinumbu was just supplied with more kerosene. I want to go there -- I hope I can get it this time."

For him, cost is no longer the issue, he just wants to bring kerosene home. For a liter, he usually pays around Rp 1,200 to Rp 1,500.

In Makassar and other areas of South Sulawesi the retail price of kerosene has been on the rise, from Rp 1,200 to Rp 2,000 per liter.

Facing high demand, agents now limit buyers to 10 liters each.

The kerosene scarcity hit South Sulawesi after Pertamina cut in January the kerosene supplied to each agent by 10 percent.

General manager of Pertamina in Makassar, Ahmad Syafrudin Wiradikusumah, said the cut was conducted nationwide, blaming the scarcity on the illegal trade of kerosene, whereby household kerosene ended up being used by industries.

He admitted he was aware of some cases of agents selling kerosene to different areas or foreign shipping companies, as well as stockpiling kerosene.