LPG, lubricant prices hiked

JAKARTA (JP): State owned oil and gas company Pertamina announced on Thursday that it had raised the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 40 percent and the prices of 244 types of lubricants by an average of below 40 percent as of Nov. 3, 2000.

Pertamina said that the price of LPG rose to Rp 2,100 per kilogram (about 23 U.S. cents) from Rp 1,500 per kilogram.

The wide gap between local and international LPG prices had caused it to suffer losses of Rp 494 billion in the six month period between April to September, the company said.

Pertamina said that international prices for LPG was between Rp 2,655 per and Rp 3,219 a kilogram last month.

"The losses will increase in line with the high growth in demand," the state company explained.

According to Pertamina, LPG demand is growing annually by around 12 percent.

It said that the hike in lubricant prices was due to higher costs of importing raw materials. (bkm)