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State oil and gas firm Pertamina will import nine million
barrels of Premium and diesel fuel this January, or about the same
amount it imported in December.
Pertamina fuel division head Djaelani Sutomo said Friday that Pertamina
would import 4.5 million barrels of Premium fuel and 3.5 million
barrels of diesel in January as it had managed to maintain oil
production at 1.006 million barrels per day during the month.
"With the same additional amount of imported oil, we will have enough
supplies for January," Djaelani said, adding that its current stock of
Premium fuel was sufficient for 23 days, while the diesel would last 16
days and the kerosene 34 days.
He added that the import volume for February would be lower than
January's figure as the second month of the year had fewer days.
Indonesia, once a major oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), has suffered a major decline in its oil
production over the past several years due to the lack of new finds,
turning it into a net oil importer.
Its daily refining capacity of 1.06 million barrels is not sufficient
to meet domestic fuel demand. This situation forces Pertamina to import
about a third of its oil products each year.
Pertamina's import figures have been climbing since 2001, reaching a
peak of 159 million barrels of imported oil in 2005, as compared to
122.6 million barrels in 2004, 101.6 million barrels in 2003, 103.6
million barrels in 2002 and 75.6 million barrels in 2001.
Pertamina also said that it would ask the government to delay a
regulation cutting sulfur content in diesel so it could prepare one of
its refineries for the new specifications.
Pertamina trading and marketing deputy director Hanung Budya said that
the Cilacap refinery, which had a capacity of 340,000 barrels a day,
was not able to produce diesel with a sulfur content of 0.35 percent.
"We will ask that the government delays the regulation for fuel from
Cilacap refinery in Central Java province," Budya said, as quoted by
Bloomberg
Other refineries are producing diesel with sulfur content lower than
that required.
Hanung declined to say how long the company needed to revamp the
Cilacap refinery.
The government in March last year informed Pertamina and other
companies that they must cut the sulfur content of diesel sold in
Indonesia to 0.35 percent from 0.5 percent out of concern for the
environment. The companies were given one year to comply with the new
rule.
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