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France’s Total exits RI fuel retail market
The decision makes Total the second oil and gas company to exit Indonesia’s fuel retail market after Malaysia’s Petronas in August 2012.
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otal Oil has closed all of its gas stations in Indonesia as the French oil and gas supermajor throws in the towel in a market overwhelmingly dominated by state-owned Pertamina.
Total Oil Indonesia marketing manager Magdalena Naibaho said on Tuesday that the Paris-based company had closed all 18 of its gas stations across Greater Jakarta and Bandung.
“This decision is in line with Total’s global strategy to actively manage our business portfolio,” she told The Jakarta Postvia text message.
Magda noted that Total would still continue its lubricant selling operations as the other component of its local downstream business. However, she declined to comment on the tight market competition.
The decision makes Total the second oil and gas company to exit Indonesia’s fuel retail market after Malaysia’s Petronas in August 2012, also due to tight competition. Petronas, which opened its first Indonesian gas stations in 2005, closed 15 gas stations that month.
Total’s decision highlights Pertamina’s chokehold over the domestic fuel retail market even after the government liberalized the market in 2001 through the 2001 Oil and Gas Law. The state-owned oil company is, until now, the main distributor of subsidized fuels, which helps attract customers to their gas stations.
Prior to its exit, Total was Indonesia’s fourth-largest fuel retailer after Pertamina with 5,500 gas stations, BP-AKR Corporindo with 130 stations and Shell with 111 stations, according to 2019 data from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
Total entered Indonesia’s fuel retail market in 2009 and began phasing out in 2020.
Energy Watch executive director Mamit Setiawan said Total’s decision also stemmed from lower fuel sales last year after the government implemented large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) that limited transportation activity.
"In 2020, COVID-19 cases surged resulting in mobility restrictions. Total could not compete anymore," he told the Post.
Total Oil booked US$43.73 billion in sales in this year’s first quarter, down 0.3 percent from the same period last year, despite a marked improvement compared the previous quarter, led by improvements in its refining and chemical segment, the company’s latest financial report shows.
