Kupang residents fear fuel crisis

Kupang residents fear fuel crisis

Antara Kupang

Fearing a fuel shortage and subsequent soaring prices, residents packed gasoline stations in East Nusa Tenggara town of Kupang on Tuesday with long lines of vehicles snaking out of gasoline stations in the city center.

State oil company Pertamina announced earlier that the premium gasoline supply would only be sufficient for the next five days.

Soon, cars and motorcycles as well as people coming in with jerrycans started to wait in line at gasoline stations in Kelapa Lima and Oebufu areas.

A driver of a public minivan, Marthen Lado, complained that the gas station's staff still served those coming in with jerrycans although a notice at the gas station clearly said: "We do not sell gasoline in jerrycans or containers".

"I've been waiting in line for three hours but we're ignored," he said.

He hoped the police would take action against those buying gasoline with jerrycans out of the suspicion that they were retailers who would hoard the gasoline and then profit by selling it at a high price once the supply was finished.

"If they're not stopped, gasoline can reach Rp 10,000 per liter like what happened in July," Marthen said.

The city was hit by a fuel crisis last month causing the price of gasoline to escalate to Rp 15,000 per liter.

A gasoline station staff in Kelapa Lima said that he served customers carrying jerrycans since they had a permit to purchase the gasoline from the subdistrict office. "If they don't have the permit, we don't serve them," said the man, who requested not to be named.

Head of the Pertamina office in Kupang, Adi Nugroho, said earlier that the supply of premium gasoline would only be enough for the next five days.

The company expects to receive 4,000 kiloliters of premium gasoline and 3,000 kiloliters of diesel fuel on Aug. 19.

He said there was no need for customers to panic otherwise people would think there was a fuel crisis.