Oil-rich provinces also stricken by fuel crisis

The Jakarta Post, Aceh, Makassar/Medan/Samarinda

Sixty-three-year-old Ponirin came to a gas station in Simpang Pos area, Medan on his old bicycle to buy gasoline. The man, who earns a living cutting people's lawns, badly needed the gasoline for his lawn mower.

But his hope remained a hope. The gas station was already out of gasoline, meaning he could not work.

"I've been to three gas stations already, but none of them has any gasoline," Ponirin said. "If this continues, it will put poor people like me in a difficult position. Why is it so hard to find gasoline nowadays, has our country gone bankrupt?"

Ponirin needs around 3.5 liters of gasoline every day for his lawn mower, enabling him to earn Rp 50,000 (US$5.5) a day to support his wife and six children.

"Our lives depends on this machine. In the last three days I have had to borrow money to buy food. How can I get any money if I can't cut grass," Ponirin complained.

A driver, Asno Susanto, also complained of the fuel shortage which has been going on in the city for the last two weeks, making it impossible for him to drive his public minivan to earn money.

"I'm tired of going all over the city trying to look for gasoline. So I decided to stop working, to wait for the fuel supply to return to normal," Asno said.

Operational supervisor of Simpang Pos gas station, Telak Tarigan, said a fuel supply shortage, mainly premium gasoline, had made state oil company Pertamina limit gasoline distribution to all gas stations.

"Normally, we receive around 18,000 liters of gasoline per day, but now we only receive it once in two days. So once the supply arrives, the people will flock to the station," he said.

Pertamina spokesman in Medan, Juliadi, said that the company had to limit the fuel supply to each gas stations.

"Our fuel supply is now limited so we have to limit distribution to gas stations until the supply returns to normal. Hopefully, that will be in July," Juliadi said.

In the oil-rich East Kalimantan provincial capital Samarinda, long lines of vehicles at gas stations have become a regular sight.

In Kusuma Bangsa and Teluk Lerong gas stations, it even caused a traffic jam in the city center, while other gas stations even opted to close while waiting for the fuel supply to return to normal.

"It's funny. East Kalimantan produces oil but we are experiencing a fuel shortage. Where does all the oil go?" asked Nursiah, a 45-year-old Samarinda resident on Friday.

Ashari, a motorist, said he'd been waiting at a gas station for hours. "I was here before the gas station opened. I have no problem waiting for hours, as long as my vehicle gets gasoline," he said.

Gas station fuel distributor, Rosdiana, said Pertamina had cut the fuel supply long before the central government announced the 10 percent cut in fuel supply nationwide starting on July 1.

"Many gas stations now only open for a few hours and others have decided to temporarily close," she said.

In Makassar, things started to return to normal on Friday after a five-day fuel shortage forced some public transportation drivers to stop operating and some gas stations placed "no more gasoline" signs on their premises.

The situation returned to normal only after Pertamina doubled fuel supply from the usual 800,000 liters per day.

According to Pertamina's acting general manager in Makassar, Hardi Sujoko, the fresh supply of 12 million liters of gasoline from Balikpapan would only be enough for the next 12 days.

A fuel shortage, especially diesel fuel, also hit Aceh, with long lines of vehicles seen in many gas stations in Banda Aceh.

According to a staffer at a gas station in Kuta Alam area, the diesel fuel shortage happened because of inadequate supply. "We usually get three tanks (of 5,000 liters each) of gasoline but now it is only one," he said.

The lack of diesel fuel forced some fishermen to mix diesel fuel with kerosene for their boats.

"Now, when we set sail, we bring four containers of diesel fuel and four containers of kerosene," said Muhammad, a 45-year- old fisherman in Lampulo, Banda Aceh.