LPG, lubricant prices hiked

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)