Gasoline supply returns to normal

State oil and gas company Perta-mina has restored the island’s gasoline supply to normal after a trial period of supply reductions that triggered protests among consumers about sporadic gasoline scarcities.

Pertamina Bali office sales manager Jeksen Simanjuntak said that the reduction trial period was over and all gas stations across the island had received their allocated regular gasoline supply. The island’s regular gasoline supply level is between 2,000 and 2,500 tons per day.

“We did indeed implement a trial period of supply cuts for several days. We cut the normal supply level by only 3 percent during the period, but apparently the public was not ready for such a policy,” he said on Sunday.

The trial cut was an effort to gauge public reaction and gas stations’ readiness in implementing Pertamina’s policy of significantly reducing subsidized gasoline sales and encouraging consumers to purchase non-subsidized gasoline.

Pertamina sells subsidized regular unleaded gas under the trade name “Premium” and non-subsidized super unleaded gas as “Pertamax”. The policy will be fully implemented in 2011.

“Actually, 3 percent is not a big cut and should not significantly affect supply.

However, the public apparently responded to the trial cut emotionally, which in turn triggered panic buying as well as gasoline hoarding. Eventually, these responses created sporadic scarcity at several of the island’s gas stations,” he said, adding that Pertamax sales experienced a slight increase during the reduction trial.

The trial supply cut triggered negative responses from the public and business community. The National Gas and Oil Entrepreneurs Association (Hiswana Migas) Bali branch head, I Dewa Nyoman Artha, publicly protested the trial cut, claiming that it had created unnecessary gasoline shortages in many regions, particularly in Jembrana and Buleleng.

“We ask Pertamina to halt the trial cut because if it continues we will face island-wide gasoline shortages,” he warned.

He also asked Pertamina to take into account the island’s gas stations’ readiness before implementing a policy that favors Pertamax over Premium.

“Out of the 178 gas stations in Bali, only 30 percent are equipped with storage tanks and gas pumps designed for Pertamax,” he said.

Pertamina data show that Pertamax consumption in Bali increased significantly in 2010 to 1,000 tons per month. Pertamax consumption reached 6,785 tons in 2009, compared to 4,112 tons in 2008.