Slamet Susanto and
Kusumasari Ayuningtyas, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Klaten, Central Java |
Headlines | Thu, August 28 2014, 10:12 AM
Long queues of
vehicles were still evident at gas stations as of Wednesday, despite the fuel
stock normalization policy that state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina
has implemented to deal with fuel scarcity nationwide.
In Yogyakarta, long
queues of motorcycles and cars were seen at many gas stations in the region.
Some stations had already run out of their stock of subsidized gasoline before
noon and people were forced to buy non-subsidized fuel
Wiyarto, a manager
of a gas station in Pleret, Bantul, said that long queues of vehicles were
unavoidable because the fuel supply at his station had been reduced from its
previous 22,000 kiloliters (kl) per day to the current 16,000 kl.
Panic buying, he
said, had made the gas station run out of the fuel that much faster.
“Those who normally
bought 2 liters of fuel per purchase now buy 5 liters,” Wiyarto said.
The condition
worsened for consumers as official retailers also disappeared from the market.
Even if fuel was available from unofficial kiosks, its price had been
drastically increased up to Rp 10,000 per liter for subsidized gasoline and Rp
15,000 for non-subsidized.
“I prefer to buy it
from kiosk retailers if there are any, rather than queuing for hours,” said
Waskita, who was nevertheless forced to queue at a gas station to buy fuel.
Setyono, another
customer, said he preferred to see a price hike rather than face a fuel
scarcity. “If the price has to be increased, just increase it. We can afford
it. Fuel scarcity only causes misery to all of us,” he said.
Pertamina’s current
efforts to solve the scarcity seemed fruitless.
“We are not [like
the epic story of] Bandung Bondowoso who could build a temple overnight. We
need two to three days to normalize the situation,” PT Pertamina Yogyakarta area
manager Hendri Eko said after a coordination meeting with gas station owners
held in Bantul, Yogyakarta, on Wednesday.
Hendri said it took
time to normalize the situation because gas station owners also had to
recalculate their real need for fuel so that subsidized fuel would not be
misappropriated.
He also gave
assurances that the supply of both subsidized gasoline and biodiesel fuel at
the local depot was sufficient to last for the next nine days.
“We assure that
there is no fuel scarcity in Yogyakarta province. There is no need for people
to panic,” he said, adding that the supply reduction policy would be continued
to maintain fuel availability until December 2014.
Separately in
Geneng village, Palar subdistrict, Trucuk district, Klaten regency, Central
Java, fuel scarcity did not seem to bother local farmers as they have been
using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) instead of gasoline or diesel fuel in their
water pumps for irrigation purposes.
Tasno Raharjo, one
of the farmers, said that using LPG was more economical compared to using
gasoline or diesel fuel.
Providing an
example, he said that he only needed 2 to 3-kilogram canisters of LPG for eight
to 12 hours of irrigation. This costs him a total of Rp 40,000, since a 3-kg
canister of LPG costs Rp 20,000.
With gasoline, he
said, he would need 8 to 12 liters of fuel to do the same job, as a liter of
gasoline was only sufficient for an hour of irrigation. Retailers sold a liter
of gasoline in his region, he said, for Rp 8,000.
He said he was
inspired by a neighbor, Sutrisno Wardoyo, an agricultural engineer who used a
factory-made LPG-fueled water pump, to change his gasoline-fueled pump into a
LPG-fueled one.
With the help of
Sutrisno and his brother Cahyono Wardoyo, who ran a water pump workshop, he
could have his pump changed into a LPG-fueled one using a factory-made product
as a model. Tasno said he spent only Rp 100,000 to do so. - See more at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/long-queues-stretch-subsidized-fuel.html#sthash.CoObFWIh.dpuf
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