Pertamina buys HOMC from new suppliers after Kuwait refinery blast
By: George Blunt
Wednesday, July 19 2000 - 05:00 AM WIB
State oil and gas company Petamina has to buy high-octane mogas components (HOMC) from traders in Singapore, Taiwan and China at high price after Kuwait's Al Achmadi refinery, which usually supplies the product to the state company, caught fire last month.
"We have to buy HOMC from the traders to supply our refinery in Balongan despite their high price," Pertamina's spokesman Toto Suparto told Petromindo.Com on Wednesday.
HOMC is the raw material for the making of Premium gasoline
He said Pertamina usually bought 500 million barrels or 79,500 kiloliters of HOMC from the Al Achmadi refinery per month at low price for the production of Premium gasoline at its Balongan refinery in West Java.
The amount was enough to produce 8.1 percent of the national Premium gasoline demand and 12 days of the Premium demand of Jakarta and its neighboring areas, Toto said.
"We have to pay more for HOMC from Singapore, Taiwan and China because the sellers there are not producers but traders," Toto said.
He did not however specify the price and how long Pertamina would buy from the traders.
Toto also said Pertamina would complete repair works at the Balongan refinery on Friday (July 21) after about three weeks of overhaul and the refinery was expected to resume production on July 24.
Last month, Toto told Petromindo.Com that Pertamina shut down the Balongan refinery for ten days of overhaul starting from June 20.
But on Wednesday, Toto said Pertamina had delayed the overhaul until early this month.
Toto reiterated that the overhaul was routine and the Balongan refinery only experienced a minor problem.
The Balongan refinery is the main supplier of fuel to Jakarta and its neighboring areas. The refinery, which has the processing capacity of 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day, produces 9,600 kiloliters of the Premium gasoline per day, 12,500 kiloliters of the automotive diesel oil per day, and 13,500 kiloliters per day.
Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier cited the current overhaul at the Balongan refinery and the fire incident at the Al Achmadi refinery as the reasons behind the shortages of the Premium gasoline supply in some parts of the country.
Following the shutdown of the Balongan refinery, Pertamina took Premium gasoline from other refineries, including the Cilacap refinery in Central Java, to Jakarta, Toto said.
This however caused shortages of the Premium gasoline supplies in other areas, including Surabaya in East Java and Bali on Monday through Tuesday.
According to Toto, Pertamina had been sending Premium gasoline from the Balikpapan refinery in East Kalimantan to cope with gasoline crisis in Surabaya and Bali.
He noted however that this would not cause gasoline shortages in East Kalimantan, citing overproduction at the Balikpapan refinery.
Toto also said Pertamina is facing difficulties to import Premium gasoline due to the lacking supplies in the region.
"Premium is currently in short supply in the Asia Pacific region due to the rising demand in the Western Coast of the United States during the summer holiday. There is also an indication of stock buildup in the region in anticipation of the rising oil price," Toto said. (*)