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tate-owned energy giant Pertamina has allocated US$700 million to strengthen its downstream business next year, including to develop refrigerated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage tanks, fuel terminals and jetties to support fuel distribution nationwide.

Within the first nine months of 2017, Pertamina saw its fuel sales climb by 4.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 49.79 million kiloliters from its 6,300 gas stations across the country. Its gas sales have also increased by 10.57 percent yoy to 585.95 trillion British thermal units (TBtu).

The government has also ordered Pertamina to strengthen its presence in remote regions to support President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s flagship one fuel-price program, which aims to ensure that fuel prices are uniform in all corners of the archipelago.

Under the program, Pertamina plans to establish fuel distribution agents in 150 remote locations by 2019 with a total investment of around Rp 3.8 trillion, 34 of which have been developed as of today.

The $700 million investment is expected to help Pertamina expand the capacity of its existing downstream facilities to cope with growing fuel demand in years to come.

“Our sales are growing from one day to the next, but our facilities are not. For instance, we need to use bigger vessels to transport our fuel more efficiently. In order to do so, we have to expand the capacity of our jetties and fuel terminals as well,” Pertamina’s senior vice president for fuel marketing and distribution Gigih Wahyu Hari Irianto said recently.

At present, Gigih said Pertamina had often been forced to pay demurrage because of failures to discharge its vessels from some ports within the agreed time. The company was unable to load the vessels at its own jetties because of the limited capacity, he added.

“That’s why we have allocated $700 million next year, to upgrade our jetties, LPG storage tanks and fuel terminals,” he said.

About one-third of the figure will be used to develop gas infrastructure, including two refrigerated LPG storage tanks in West Java and East Java, each with a capacity of 60,000 metric tons. These two facilities are slated to begin commercial operations in 2019.

Next year, the firm also plans to build several new fuel terminals, including three in Jambi, West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan with a capacity of 100,000 kiloliters each and another one in West Java with a capacity of 40,000 kiloliters. Pertamina will also build smaller ones in locations like Sorong, Papua, with capacities of 10,000 kiloliters.

The expansion is part of Pertamina’s efforts to increase its operational fuel reserves to 30 days from the current 22 days. The last time there was enough fuel to last 30 days was more than 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, the development of the new fuel depot in Sukabumi is expected to ease the burden on the overloaded Plumpang terminal in North Jakarta.

The Plumpang facility is currently Indonesia’s biggest fuel terminal. As of March, it supplied fuel for 876 gas stations across the Greater Jakarta area, as well as Sukabumi and Puncak in West Java, with an average distribution volume of 14,250 kiloliters per day, or more than 20 percent of national fuel consumption.

“Fuel distribution can’t rely on just one spot [as with Plumpang],” Pertamina spokesman Adiatma Sardjito said previously.

Between January and September, Pertamina’s revenues climbed by 17.8 percent year-on-year to $31.38 billion. Nonetheless, its net income fell by 29.7 percent to $1.99 billion, driven by a 27 percent increase in its cost of goods sold and operating expenses.