Pertamina says gas supply to return to normal today

JAKARTA (JP): The capital was hit by a scarcity of gasoline on Tuesday but state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina gave assurances that the supply would return to normal beginning Wednesday.

Several big cities in Java, such as Semarang and Tangerang, also faced the same problems, which have been in evidence for a couple of days.

Dozens of gas stations in Jakarta and Tangerang were crowded on Tuesday as motorists flocked there, looking for gasoline.

The queues of cars, motorcycles and trucks at the gas stations in the city lasted from morning until late evening. Most of the gas stations already had a notice displayed at the entrance that read: "Sorry, Premium out of stock."

Premium or leaded fuel is the principal form of gasoline used in the country.

Due to the lack of the fuel, many motorists finally decided to fill their cars and motorcycles with premix (unleaded gas), which is Rp 1,500 per liter, or Rp 500 higher than premium. The sudden high demand led several other stations to run out of premix in just a few hours.

Many motorists had to struggle for hours, either by waiting in the lines or by hunting for gas stations where there were no lines.

A motorist, who could no longer stand waiting in the queue at a gas station near the busy Glodok shopping center, finally decided to try his luck elsewhere.

He then sped off to various other gas stations, including Jl. Tanah Abang, only to be confronted by the same unpleasant prospects.

"I have already visited three other places but I haven't managed to buy even a liter as the queues are too long. By the time I get to the pumps, they'll probably already be empty.

You see, I've already finished my shift at work and I should have been replaced by a friend. The problem is that this car (of my firm) badly needs petrol," the motorist said.

The lines of vehicles at certain gas stations caused traffic congestion such as those on Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Lapangan Roos, Jl. Gatot Subroto, and Jl. Kwitang Raya.

According to staff and owners of the gas stations, the problem centers on Pertamina's failure to provide adequate supplies of gasoline.

"Usually we get three trucks, but I haven't seen even one truck so far today," said Andry, a gas station owner in Kwitang, Central Jakarta, said.

A fellow businessman, who runs a gas station on Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta said in the afternoon that his stock of 7 kiloliters of gasoline would only last until 10 p.m. under normal circumstances.

"We have actually ordered 48 kiloliters (from Pertamina), but we have no idea when this will arrive," he said.

Some gas stations received fresh supplies from Pertamina later in the evening.

Darwin Tampubolon, manager of a gas station on Jl. Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, said that he had been out of leaded gas for more than 13 hours.

"We have been out of stock since 1 p.m. on Monday, and we received fresh supplies from Plumpang (the Pertamina depot) only at 2 a.m. today," he said.

A gas station near Tebet on Jl. Gatot Subroto went so far as to prohibit customers from purchasing more than 15 liters per vehicle.

"It's in order to ensure fair distribution due to the shortage of supplies," said Bambang, the manager of the gas station.

Jakarta is home to some 2 million cars and 373 gas stations.

In Tangerang, Syahrudin, a public minivan driver, said he and his fellow drivers were really upset with the situation as their incomes have been seriously affected.

"Usually, we would have already made three runs by this time, but we have only managed one so far, he said midday.

In Semarang, several gas stations in Grobogan regency even refused to serve retailers, who were thronging them all day.

As a result, some retailers raised their prices to Rp 1,400 per liter.

At a press briefing late on Tuesday, Pertamina officials blamed the problem on repairs at its Balongan refinery in West Java together with an international shortage of High Octane Mogas Component (HOMG).

Arifin Nawawi, head of Pertamina's refining division, and Tuty Anggraini, head of fuel supplies for West Java and Jakarta, said 80 percent of the total demand in Jakarta was supplied by Balongan, which has been out of operation since last June 20 due to damage in its main blower.

As a result of this, Tuty said, it has proved impossible to supply Jakarta by pipeline, with the capital now being supplied by tanker ship, which involves a 20-hour trip from Balongan.

Nawawi added that the Alamahdi refinery in Kuwait, a main source of HOMC, blew up recently, causing a major scarcity of HOMC all over the world.

Separately, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung called on the government to take concrete measures to cope with the fuel scarcity, saying that the crisis could worsen political instability prior to next month's Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"The fuel crisis could spark a new wave of mass demonstrations and set a bad precedent prior to the Session," he said here on Tuesday. (asa/bsr/25/44/41/har/edt/rms)