TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsSupply disruptions, cost risks cloud fuel negotiations
Experts argued that private retailers may, albeit reluctantly, need to raise fuel prices to avoid losses caused by changes in the supply chain and the cost of raw materials.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
An attendant fills up a motorcycle with gasoline at a gas station owned by state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina in Jakarta.
(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
A
fter weeks of talks, the government and private fuel retailers such as Shell and BP remain locked in a stalemate as supply shortages continue to squeeze the market.
In the latest twist, private retailers have rejected an offer to buy base fuel from state-owned energy giant Pertamina, citing concerns over its ethanol content, even as negotiations drag on to secure supplies for the final quarter of the year.
Experts say the deadlock stems from supply chain disruptions that private retailers have been forced to endure, along with fears that the standoff could eventually drive up fuel prices for consumers.
Risks of supply chain disruption
Ahmad Rahma Wardhana, a researcher at Gadjah Mada University's Center for Energy Studies (PSE UGM), noted that some private fuel retailers in the country have been importing base fuel, pure gasoline with a specific octane rating that has not been mixed with any additives.
This base fuel is shipped to private storage terminals in Indonesia, where it undergoes a simple blending process. At these facilities, companies mix the base fuel with their proprietary additive packages, formulas that can include octane enhancers, engine-cleaning detergents, anti-rust agents and friction modifiers.
According to Ahmad, this practice is legal and supervised under the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) as well as a decree issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s oil and gas director general.
