Inspection To Several Gas Stations And Visiting Balongan Refinery, Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Ensures Fuel Supply Is Safe Until Homecoming Season

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif ensured that the government will focus on the availability of fuel, especially the Pertalite and Biosolar types, considering that these two types of fuel will increase in demand during the Eid homecoming season. Demand for other types of fuel is expected to decline because industrial vehicles and large trucks will be discontinued starting April 27.

The statement was made by Arifin when he held a surprise inspection of a number of public fuel filling stations (SPBU) along those on the West and Central Java toll road sections, together with the President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Nicke Widyawati and the Head of BPH Migas Erika Retnowati.

"We will focus on the availability of pertalite type of fuel because there is a tendency for people to use this type of fuel. We hope to overcome the need for fuel for homecoming and I hope Pertamina's reserves for the next 20 days can be met," said Arifin, Friday, April 22.

During the visit, he estimated that the need for several types of fuel oil (BBM), such as Pertalite and Solar, is expected to increase by 10 percent to 14 percent near the peak of the Eid holiday compared to the average daily consumption.

"We estimate that there will be an increase in demand by around 10 percent to 14 percent on average. For this reason, we ask Pertamina to be able to provide the stock, as well as to plan logistics operations so that the fuel oil can arrive on time," said the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Arifin said, in addition to providing stock as needed, Pertamina has also provided extra services in the form of motorized fuel carriers that are ready to serve travelers in case of severe congestion on toll roads.

Present on the same occasion, Nicke Widyawati said, based on Pertamina's predictions, there would be an increase in fuel consumption with the highest increase of 29 percent at the peak of the homecoming flow or April 29-30 2022.

"We have predicted that there will be an increase in fuel demand when there is an increase in homecoming flow this week, and we will see a peak on April 29-30 2022, on that date we estimate there will be an increase in demand up to 29 percent of the average, especially gasoline. If diesel fuel actually decreases, because starting on D-5 it is no longer allowed to operate on toll roads," said Nicke.

According to him, the current stock position of diesel and gasoline is available for 23 days.

In accordance with the direction of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources to provide fuel for travelers, Pertamina has supplied modular gas stations (Pertashop) in several rest areas that do not yet have gas stations.

"We have looked at rest areas, rest areas where there are no gas stations, we have added dispensers, we have placed pertashops there so that now all rest areas have gas stations," explained Nicke.

Other facilities provided by Pertamina are motorbikes, officers driving motorbikes who will pick up the ball when a vehicle runs out of gas. By contacting the Pertamina 135 call center and providing the location, motorists immediately moved to supply fuel.

"We provide 200 motorbikes along the Sumatra and Java toll roads during the homecoming period and returning to the Eid holidays," said Nicke.

In addition to visiting gas stations, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and his entourage also visited the Pertamina Refinery Unit VI Balongan Refinery to ensure the smooth implementation of the Refinery Development Master Plan (RDMP) project or refinery development project, as well as the Refinery Maintenance project.

The project currently being carried out at the Balongan Refinery is a National Strategic Project (PSN) which has a very strong impact on the national economy and must ensure smooth implementation, not only on time, but also on work safety during the project.

Meanwhile, Nicke explained that the visit of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources to the Balongan Refinery was also carried out to see and ensure the availability of existing fuel in overcoming the need for fuel during the Eid homecoming season.

"So we make sure not only from the downstream side, but also want to make sure the upstream side is on target and also the production is on target. From upstream to downstream we are preparing, including 283 ships we are on standby," concluded Nicke.