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tate oil and gas company PT Pertamina plans to acquire filling stations owned by PT Petronas Niaga Indonesia after the latter decided to close down 15 of its 19 stations following years of weak sales.

Pertamina marketing director Hanung Budya Yutyanta confirmed on Thursday that the firm was interested in acquiring fuel stations that had been non-operational since August.

“As long as the price to purchase the assets fits with our calculation and the fuel stations are situated in strategic locations, of course we are interested,” he told reporters.

Acquiring fuel stations owned by other firms is more economical than developing new gasoline stations from scratch, according to Hanung, who explained the approach could save Pertamina money as the company would not have to apply for traditionally costly land permits.

Hanung added, however, that Pertamina had yet to receive any offer from Petronas, an Indonesian subsidiary of Malaysia-based PT Petroliam Nasional Bhd.

Petronas was not available for comment on Thursday but said it would soon publish an official statement on the closing down of its operations.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry downstream director, Umi Asngadah, told The Jakarta Post in a text-message on Thursday the government would encourage Pertamina to buy Petronas’ inactive gasoline stations.

“That is the government’s expectation [for Pertamina to acquire Petronas’ idle fuel stations],” she said.

Petronas was among Pertamina’s competitors in the marketing and distribution of petroleum products, among others including PT Shell Indonesia, the local subsidiary of global oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, which has 57 fuel stations in the country and France-based Total Oil Indonesia, which owns 13 stations.

The four firms compete in the non-subsidized fuel market, with products such as 92-octane gasoline, which currently sells at Rp 9,800 (93 US cents) a liter.

Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry data shows that Pertamina dominates the market in petroleum product sales in Indonesia with a 97 percent market share, followed by Shell Indonesia (2.4 percent), Petronas (0.3 percent) and Total Indonesia (0.11 percent).

Pertamina is the only downstream oil and gas player allowed to market subsidized fuels — Premium and Solar — at Rp 4,500 a liter, the cheapest in Southeast Asia.

Premium consumption as of September reached 21 million kiloliters, according to downstream oil and gas regulator BPH Migas.

Separately, the chairman of the Association of Fuel Station Owners (Hiswana Migas), Eri Purnomo Hadi, told the Post that compared to Pertamina and Shell, Petronas did not share the similar brand power and marketing concepts that could woo customers in Indonesia.

“So when it comes to brand value, Petronas was defeated by its competitors, hence the poor sales that lead to their decision to shut down operations. On the other hand, while the selection of the locations is the most important thing in this business, Petronas’ fuel stations are not located in strategic locations as most of them are located in big cities,” he said.

Echoing Hanung’s previous statement, Eri said that the organization’s members were “ready” to acquire Petronas’ inactive fuel stations, pending further discussions over the locations as well as the purchasing price.