Traders reap profits from gasoline shortage
Oyos Saroso and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung/Yogyakarta
A woman in her 40s was busily serving yet another eager gasoline buyer on Thursday. Next to her, were several 20-liter jerrycans labeled as premium gasoline. Working fast, the woman poured three liters of the precious commodity into a man motorcycle's tank. The man gave her a Rp 50,000 note, and the woman gave him Rp 15,000 in change. He had paid Rp 11,667 per liter, nearly five times more than the government-mandated price of Rp 2,400 a liter.
After the man sped off, another one was right behind him ready to fill up his tank, and many others after them lined up at her makeshift stall on Jl. Kartini in Bandarlampung.
The woman, Noor (not her actual name), has been selling the premium gasoline since an acute shortage hit the city a week ago. Gasoline supplies had reportedly been dropped from 900,000 liters to 740,000 liters for several days, but the supply had also reportedly been increased on Tuesday. Despite that, thousands of people still wait in long lines at gasoline stations or makeshift vendors' stalls in fear of another acute shortage.
Noor acknowledged that she obtained her gasoline from various gasoline stations in the city. Hauling dozens of jerrycans, she went to different stations around town and paid just Rp 2,400 per liter. She then set up the stall and watched as her profits soared.
"My husband, our two children and I buy the gasoline in shifts at night and then sell it during the day," explained the budding entrepreneur.
Noor said that she was merely taking advantage of a potentially profitable situation. "There are many people who are not patient enough to wait in long lines at the gasoline stations and so they turn to small traders like me. Even though we charge them higher prices, still there are many who like the convenience of buying from us," she said.
She admitted over the past week that she had sold between 100 liters and 150 liters of premium gasoline a day, and had been able to earn a profit of well over Rp 500,000 per day.
Other roadside vendors like Noor have been able get gasoline directly from the state oil company's truck drivers, even before they deliver to the company's own stations. Komsan, another roadside gasoline vendor, said that he did not need to obtain the gasoline from stations, he just bought it from the truck drivers. Every two days, the drivers drop by his small stall in Bandarlampung and sell him between 20 liters and 30 liters. The drivers, whose trucks generally have a capacity of 5,000 liters, said that they could only sell a relatively small portion of gasoline in order to pocket a little extra cash. "Giving out 20 liters to 30 liters of gasoline in exchange for a bit of cold cash is still okay, because my boss may not notice it. We need additional money anyway because our salary is too low," explained one truck driver.
In addition to the 2 or 3 drums and 5 to 7 jerrycans displayed at the various stalls, the vendors usually have other drums stockpiled at their homes or other places.
"We have been cooperating with the police, we have been working hard to combat the hoarding," claimed Walijanto, the head of a distribution depot belonging to state oil and gas company Pertamina. He also called on gasoline stations not to sell in large amounts in a bid to curb some of the hoarding.
However, his request has apparently fallen on deaf ears as many gasoline station employees have been actively cooperating with the roadside vendors to reap a bit of extra spending cash themselves. Ali (not his real name), another of the many roadside gasoline vendors, said that he could easily acquire a lot of extra gasoline from a Pertamina station as the station employees knew him well.
He also gives them nice "tips" to make it worth their while.
"I am allowed to fill up my own Kijang van's tank, even though due to the gasoline scarcities, sales are supposed to be limited to 20 liters per person," he said.
Ali generally fills his van full of gasoline (more than 50 liters usually) and then siphons it out and sells it to others at higher prices. In a single day, he can go to four or five gasoline stations to fill up and siphon off what he does not use.
A similar tactic is also employed by Sudirman, a small time gasoline vendor in Yogyakarta. He goes to different gas stations each day and fills his motorcycle tank full of gasoline several times a day and manages to siphon out and sell over 10 liters at very high prices.
"I know that it's inappropriate, but I need money to live my life," he rationalized.