JAKARTA: Indonesia’s state-owned Pertamina is expected to import around 6.8 million barrels of gasoline in December, down from around 8 million barrels in November, trade sources said Friday.
The total comprises around 5.8 million barrels of 88 RON gasoline, 600,000 barrels of 92 RON finished gasoline and 400,000 barrels of 92 RON high octane mogas component, market participants said.
The import of these grades in November was estimated at 7.2 million barrels, 600,000 barrels and 200,000 barrels respectively. The country’s domestic production of gasoline has risen since the startup of the 62,000 b/d residue catalytic cracker at the 348,000 b/d Cilacap refinery and the restart of Trans-Pacific Petrochemical Indotama’s 100,000 b/d condensate splitter in October.
The units can produce 30,000 b/d and 60,000 b/d of gasoline respectively when run at full rates. Pertamina is gearing up domestic gasoline production in a bid to lower gasoline import costs.
Indonesia removed subsidies on gasoline earlier this year, squeezing Pertamina as it is not allowed to adjust pump prices in line with market movements often enough and is now no longer eligible for subsidy payouts. Traders are closely watching the outcome of Pertamina’s term negotiation for 2016 gasoline supplies that expires Friday, although traders expect extentions.
