State-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina has added 4 to 15 percent of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to its regular stock in response to a reported shortage, an executive has said.

Pertamina marketing and retail director Mas’ud Khamid confirmed that there was a problem with distribution among its agents, depots and retailers.

He said that Pertamina had 160,000 LPG depots that submitted daily reports on their stock, sales period and the LPG market price.

The problem occurred when the retailers neglected to inform the depots when their outlets would be closed, said Mas’ud. “The distance between the depots and the retail outlets are quite long,” he added as reported by kontan.co.id.

Mas’ud said that Pertamina had set up a market operation team in response to reports on a price increase in 3 kg canisters of LPG, which was subsidized by the government. The team was cooperating with regional Trade Ministry representatives to map the hike.

“When prices show an increasing trend, we will carry out market operations involving representatives of the Trade Ministry. The team will verify the reports on the shortage,” he said.

Mas’ud added that Pertamina had formed another team to develop a digital application to monitor distribution of the 3 kg canister, similar to the technology that would be applied at gas stations to monitor fuel sales.

He added that a QR code or barcode might also be placed on each canister. (bbn)