State oil and gas company PT Pertamina plans to buy 40,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from ConocoPhilips for US$32 million to secure its May supply, which has been disrupted by a glitch at its Balongan refinery in West Java.
Director for marketing and trading Ahmad Faisal said Thursday the purchase was needed as current supply would only last for up to three days after a unit in the refinery last week went off-line for repairs.
"The LPG will come from a ConocoPhilips plant in Teluk Semangka, Lampung," Faisal said.
The Balongan refinery is the country's largest LPG producer, with an output of 1,200 tons of LPG per day, which is delivered to Jakarta and other cities on Java.
Pertamina processing director Rukmini Hadihartini said the company needed 18 days to repair the problem and get operations back to normal.
Pertamina will also in-crease May gasoline imports by 1 million barrels as the commodity's consumption has risen 5 percent follow-ing a period of panic buy-ing caused by the government's announcement to raise fuel prices.
The government has cap-ped the volume of subsidized fuels at 35.5 million kilo-liters with a state budget allocation of Rp 126.8 trillion ($13.7 billion).
Under the planned fuel increases, the price of Premium gasoline will likely rise from Rp 4,500 (48.77 US cents) to Rp 6,000, diesel from Rp 4,300 to Rp 5,500 and kerosene from Rp 2,000 to Rp 2,500.
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