Pertamina urges S. Sulawesi tighten energy belt
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi | Archipelago | Tue, June 12 2012, 5:51 PM
State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina is urging the South Sulawesi administration to immediately establish a policy on energy saving, especially on the consumption of subsidized fuel.
PT Pertamina’s sales representative for fuel retail marketing in region VII Sulawesi, Muhammad Iswahyudi, said Tuesday the province would face a fuel scarcity resulting from the government’s recent energy policy unless it had in place a corresponding regional policy.
“The quota of subsidized fuel for South Sulawesi is only sufficient until November, or maybe even October, if the regional administration applies no energy-saving policy, because demand is continuing to increase,” he told reporters.
He said South Sulawesi has so far received 1.2 million kiloliters of quota subsidized fuel (gasoline and diesel fuel) this year, 43 percent of which had been delivered as of May.
According to Iswahyudi, South Sulawesi consumes 700 kiloliters per day of Pertamina’s subsidized fuel Premium, 150 kiloliters per day of subsidized fuel Solar (diesel fuel) and 208 kiloliters per month of Pertamax (non-subsidized fuel).
“We had previously made some supply arrangements with local gas stations by reducing the amount of supplies so that the quota would be sufficient until the end of the year,” he said.
“But we’ve had to increase the supplies again since late last week to avoid scarcity.”
Pertamina has sent a letter to the South Sulawesi administration, demanding the enforcement of an energy-saving policy, but has yet to receive a response or see any real action by the administration, according to Iswahyudi.
He said the administration could save energy by requiring civil servants and employees of city-owned enterprises, as well as owners of private luxury cars, to use non-subsidized fuel, while allowing public transportation vehicles and motorcycles to use subsidized fuel.
South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo, instead of following the central government’s energy-saving policy, is asking the central government for a 15 percent increase in the quota of subsidized fuel, arguing that the number of vehicles in the province is increasing. (mtq)
