SBY berates Pertamina ‘excuses’, demands it take responsibility

Ika Krismantari and Alfian ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 01/06/2009 7:23 AM  |  Headlines

WHEN THE PUMPS RUN DRY: Motorcycle drivers line up at a pump at a fuel station in Palmerah, Jakarta, on Monday. Many fuel stations were out of gasoline despite claims by state oil and gas company Pertamina that it had increased supply to Jakarta and several other cities over the past few days. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday slammed PT Pertamina for "making excuses" about a recent scarcity of Premium gasoline and diesel, saying the state oil and gas company should accept full responsibility for the debacle.

On Sunday, Pertamina brushed aside criticism about its response to the shortages, saying the incident had been isolated to a small numbers of gas stations and that supply delays were mostly due to bank closures during the holiday season and the introduction of a new payment system.

"It's only excuses from the Pertamina management, who said it's [because of] holidays [and] introducing a new system. That's wrong," Yudhoyono said in a speech on the opening day of trading at the stock market Monday.

"There is no such thing as holidays when it comes to serving the people. There is no such excuse.

"The state cannot sleep when running the government to serve the people. This applies to all government officials in the country. Centrally and locally."

As the sole distributor of subsidized fuels in the country, Pertamina has come under severe criticism amid a spate of recent fuel shortages.

Pertamina came under fire recently for a recent scarcity of 3-kilogram liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) canisters that made a mockery of the company's drive for the public to convert from kerosene to the gas.

Even the President has boarded the Pertamina slander wagon.

Monday's outcry was Yudhoyono's second aimed at Pertamina's management, which has been headed by Ari Sumarno since 2006. He first chided the company in mid 2008 amid a shortage of LPG.

Pertamina aims to reduce the government's fuel subsidy by promoting the use of LPG to replace the heavily subsidized kerosene. Lack of preparation has marred the program from the outset.

Many believe Pertamina's problems could be alleviated were the government to allow the private sector to share the burden of distributing fuels.

Existing regulations allow private firms to distribute subsidized and nonsubsidized fuels, but the government has so far retained Pertamina as the sole distributor of the subsidized fuels, claiming those other companies do not have a sufficiently large network of gas stations.

So far, other distributors operating in the country, including the local arms of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. and Malaysian state oil and gas firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas), are allowed only to distribute nonsubsidized fuels.

Pertamina claimed Monday that the distribution of Premium gasoline and diesel in the country had returned to normal.

However, Pertamina's spokesperson Anang Rizkani Noor said a number of gas stations in greater Jakarta were still at risk of running out of fuels because they were still awaiting late deliveries.

There are about 600 gas stations in greater Jakarta.