Gonjang-jing Kelangkaan BBM At Private Gas Stations When Community Trust Is Damaged

JAKARTA Gonjang-jing about the scarcity of fuel oil (BBM) at private gas stations still has not come to light. Pertamina is considered afraid to compete, even though the private gas station market share is very minimal when compared to the state-owned company.

The beginning of the scarcity of fuel at private gas stations began in mid-August. Warganet complained that it was difficult to buy fuel at private gas stations.

In several big cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya, private gas stations have almost run out of stock. The vacancy at private gas stations is recognized by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) due to the shift of subsidized fuel users to non-subsidized fuel.

"That's the dynamics that occur, there is shifting. Previously, there were many RON 90 users, there was shifting to other RONs. Actually, this is just the dynamics of consumption," said Director General of Oil and Gas, Laode Sulaeman, last September 9.

The dynamics of fuel consumption, said Pertamina's Managing Director Simon Aloysius Mantiri, occurred because of the corruption case in the management of crude oil and refinery products for the 2018-2023 period. This case affects people's confidence to buy fuel products from the company they lead.

"One of the contributing factors, of course there is a trust issue from the community, among others, we are currently having a case of legal governance. All of these people already know," said Simon.

In the buying and selling business, consumer trust is the main thing. Even in the business saying, there are those who say 'buyers are kings'. Therefore, when the case of mixed fuel involving PT Pertamina Patra Niaga broke out earlier this year, it succeeded in gaining public attention.

Pertamina was immediately flooded with criticism for allegedly carrying out the practice of mixing Pertamax (RON 92) with lower octane fuel, such as Premium (RON 88) to reduce production costs.

This case seems to be enough to make people turn their bodies from Pertamina to private gas stations such as Shell, BP-AKR, or Vivo. Even though they have to spend more, they prefer to buy non-subsidized fuel at private gas stations with confidence in getting better quality than Pertamina.

If connected to the current situation, oil and gas industry experts assess that the trust issue to Pertamina could be the root cause of fuel problems at private gas stations experiencing scarcity in the past 2.5 months, and may continue until the end of this year.

Even after the import quota at private gas stations was increased by 10 percent for this year, the availability of fuel actually ran out faster than usual.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), the non-Pertamina fuel market share rose from 11 percent or the equivalent of 725,536 kl throughout 2024 to 15 percent or comparable to 715,827 kl during the first seven months of 2025.

On the other hand, Pertamina's non-subsidized fuel market share, including the Pertamax Series, fell from 89 percent or 6.13 million kl in 2024 to 85 percent or 4.03 million kl in January this year's July.

In the midst of the difficulty of the community getting fuel at private gas stations, under the pretext of helping, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia emphasized that additional import quotas for private gas stations must be one door through Pertamina in base fuel or basic fuel format without a mixture of additive materials. This directive was revealed by Bahlil at the end of last August.

The chairman of the Golkar Party said that the stock of fuel in Pertamina was still sufficient. Bahlil also wants to strengthen Pertamina's position among the limited supply that is being faced by private business actors.

Senior practitioner of the oil and gas industry Hadi Ismoyo said that the legal case that occurred in Pertamina's subholding environment earlier this year had an attachment to the phenomenon of shifting public fuel consumption.

In addition, this year's government policy is considered aimed at protecting Pertamina from this business competition, eventually causing private gas stations to not be able to sell.

"Believe it or not, there is indeed a relationship between cases earlier this year related to the issue of the mix, so that many non-subsidized Pertamina consumers migrate to private gas stations," said Hadi.

The transition in fuel consumption does not make Pertamina's gasoline sales business competitive by private gas station operators. Especially if you look at the market share of private gas stations which are very minimalist.

Based on data from the Pertamina Oil and Gas Downstream Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas) operates 13,603 gas stations out of a total of 15,917 gas stations in Indonesia. This means that Pertamina controls the market share of 85.47 percent, while the remaining 2,324 private gas stations only control 14.53 percent.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YKLI) Rio Priambodo said, consumers have clear principles, namely the right to choose and obtain fuel with standards, both in terms of the best quality and quantity. And, it is the government's duty to ensure that all types of fuel purchased meet the standards.

Regarding the fuel procurement business, according to Rio, this is no longer the domain that consumers must bear. The government, through the relevant ministries, should be able to take into account the community's needs for fuel.

"For consumers, they don't want to know about the business process behind them. Consumers, in principle, availability and affordability. So the government as both regulators and mediators must adhere to these principles," he concluded.

Seeing the ongoing scarcity, Hadi Ismoyo hopes that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources can be wise in responding to the scarcity of fuel that occurs in private gas station operators. He also asked the government to grant permission to add quotas for private gas stations so that they can return to selling fuel until the end of this year.