JAKARTA :Indonesia’s Pertamina has offered to supply a gasoline cargo that arrived this week to Shell and BP-AKR as they face petrol shortages at their retail stations, a company official said on Friday.
Shell, BP-AKR – the operator of BP’s fuel stations – and others ran low on supply this month as more customers turned to them after a probe into the quality of Pertamina’s own gasoline.
The government has since permitted the private retailers to import more fuel via Pertamina to address the shortages.
Pertamina Patra Niaga corporate secretary Roberth Dumatubun said the company was waiting for a response to offers made to the private companies for the first cargo it had ordered, of 16,000 kilolitres (100,640 barrels).
An energy ministry spokesperson also said that fuel for private retailers had arrived and the companies were discussing distribution.
BP-AKR declined to comment. Shell declined to immediately comment.
The energy ministry estimated that about 571,000 kilolitres of Pertamina’s remaining 7.52 million kilolitre import quota could by used to meet the needs of the private retailers.
