Why Trucks and Buses Struggle to Get Subsidised Diesel
Shortages of subsidised diesel have been reported in a number of regions on Sumatra over the past month. The situation has caused long vehicle queues at public fuel filling stations (SPBU) and has begun to disrupt logistics operations as well as intercity and interprovincial (AKAP) public transport.
Secretary General of the Land Transport Organisation (Organda), Kurnia Lesani Adnan, said the intensity of the shortage has increased over the past week. According to him, reports of vehicle queues have been received from various regions almost daily. “In fact, almost every hour a video arrives in our chat groups showing diesel queues,” Adnan said when contacted on Friday, 10 July 2026.
Adnan sent dozens of videos showing queues of buses and trucks in several cities, such as Padang, Bukittinggi, Jambi, Medan, Palembang and Lampung. According to him, the problem is not confined to Sumatra. Several areas in Kalimantan and Sulawesi have also been reported to be experiencing subsidised diesel shortages.
“This diesel shortage has actually been going on for a long time and keeps recurring. However, the situation has worsened over the past month,” he said.
Adnan believes the shortage of subsidised diesel, or biodiesel, has become more widespread since the barcode system through the MyPertamina application was introduced. According to him, the implementation of the system still leaves many problems in the field, so it has not run effectively.
He said oversight of barcode usage remains weak, so suspected misuse has yet to be curbed. In addition, purchase quotas recorded in the barcode are said to frequently disappear without explanation. Meanwhile, owners whose barcodes are blocked often receive no notification or clear reason.
Adnan also highlighted the slow handling of complaints by the call centre when users encounter problems in the field. On the other hand, he believes law enforcement against misuse of the MyPertamina barcode has not been firm, so various problems continue to recur.
Organda, he said, has repeatedly conveyed complaints to PT Pertamina Patra Niaga. “But the answer is only perfunctory, namely that they will maximise distribution to petrol stations,” he said.
Beyond the barcode issue, Adnan said he had received information from a number of petrol station operators that the biodiesel supply they receive does not match the volume they requested. He gave the example of a petrol station that requested a supply of 32 kilolitres but received only around 18 kilolitres. In addition to reduced volumes, delivery times are also irregular, so stocks at petrol stations run out more quickly.
Adnan added that shortages occur more frequently in regions with large-scale mining and plantation activities. He suspects the shortage is triggered by distribution that is not appropriately targeted. “The indications point that way,” he said.
Secretary General of the Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI), Trismawan Sanjaya, said the shortage of subsidised diesel for goods transport is not a new problem. According to him, the issue has persisted for years, especially in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and parts of eastern Indonesia. Yet the problem has been left without a concrete solution.
Trismawan believes several factors cause subsidised diesel to be frequently scarce. One of them is suspected misuse by unauthorised parties, including vehicles operating in the mining and industrial sectors.
Trismawan views the wide price gap between subsidised and non-subsidised diesel as one factor encouraging widespread misuse. In addition, he believes petrol station infrastructure in a number of regions is inadequate for serving goods transport. Many petrol stations have relatively small service areas and fuel storage capacities because they were originally designed to serve passenger vehicles, not logistics trucks.
Trismawan also said the biodiesel distribution system remains inefficient, so supply is often unable to keep up with demand in the field. “In Sumatra and Java, the development of industrial estates and commercial centres is becoming more massive, leading to an increase in the number of goods vehicles requiring more fuel,” he said.
Tempo sent a number of questions to the Corporate Secretary of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga, Roberth Dumatubun, regarding the causes of the subsidised diesel shortage occurring in a number of regions, including alleged reductions in supply to petrol stations, distribution evaluations, and mitigation measures to prevent the problem from recurring.
However, Roberth has not answered the list of questions. In a brief written reply, he only said the shortage was suspected to be caused by biodiesel distribution that was not appropriately targeted. “The suspicion is that distribution is off-target, yes,” said Roberth.
When pressed further, Roberth did not elaborate on the causes of the misdirected distribution, nor on the steps Pertamina Patra Niaga is taking to address the diesel shortage in a number of regions.