Pertamina suffers losses from subsidized fuel sales

JAKARTA: State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina reported losses of Rp 187 billion from the distribution of subsidized fuels and subsidized liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the first three months of 2010, the company's executive has said.

"As of March this year, we suffered losses of as high as Rp 554 billion from the distribution of subsidized fuels. As for subsidized LPG, we booked a profit Rp 386 billion. Thus, in total, we suffered a loss of Rp 187 billion in the subsidized business," Pertamina's investment planning and risk management director Ferederick ST Siahaan told lawmakers Tuesday. Earlier Monday, the company reported that it estimated it would lose of Rp 2.5 trillion from the distribution of non-subsidized LPG this year. - JP