Pertamina to raise prices of high-grade gasoline

Pertamina to raise prices of high-grade gasoline

Bloomberg, Jakarta

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina plans to increase the price of high-grade gasoline later this year because of higher import prices, a company official said on Friday.

Pertamina will probably increase the price of Pertamax and Pertamax Plus to at least Rp 5,000 (53 U.S. cents) a liter, Adi Soemarno, director for marketing and trading at Jakarta-based Pertamina, told reporters.

Pertamax and Pertamax Plus are currently sold at Rp 4,000 and Rp 4,200 liter, respectively.

Import prices for the high-grade gasoline are about $65 a barrel, Soemarno said. Pertamina last raised prices of the fuel on Dec. 18 by as much as 60 percent.

Indonesia raised the prices of fuel, including premium gasoline and auto diesel, by an average of 29 percent last month, in a bid to cut subsidies and narrow a budget deficit to 0.8 percent of gross domestic product, from 1.4 percent last year.

Pertamax and Pertamax Plus are not subsidized.

Prices of crude oil futures have risen 45 percent in the past 12 months to $54 a barrel, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Crude oil for May delivery fell as much as 39 U.S. cents, or 0.7 percent, to $53.72 a barrel in after hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.