Land Oil Prices In Kupang City Make Tipis Wallet, Tembus IDR 15,000 Per Liter

Several residents lined up to buy kerosene at the Oesapa market, Kupang City. ANTARA/Ho-Brian

KUPANG - A number of residents in Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara, complained about the increase in the price of kerosene (BBM) types ahead of Christmas -New Year. Now the price per liter has reached IDR 15,000, from the previous price of around IDR 5,000 “ Now it's difficult to find kerosene. Even if you get the price now it's up to Rp. 15,000 per liter,” saidTEN, a resident of Alak District, Kupang City, quoted from Antara, Thursday, November 24. Gerry admitted that the scarcity of kerosene has occurred since the last two weeks. Many residents who use kerosene were forced to queue long to get kerosene. However, he continued, the presence of the kerosene was sometimes unable to survive until the afternoon, because many bought it in large quantities. “ It's been a long time since my family and I used kerosene. Now we want to use gas to be afraid, then the price of gas is also very expensive, it can reach up to Rp230 thousand per tube for a size of 12 kilograms,” he said. For him, the price of Rp. 230 thousand per tube is too high. Moreover, his job as a port worker. Meanwhile Fitri, the owner of the kerosene base who was met, admitted that she was forced to sell at a price of Rp. 20,000 because the amount of supply was reduced. "There is a reduction in the distribution of kerosene fuel from Pertamina, so we increase the price," he said. According to him, currently if there is a supply of kerosene, it will run out in just a few hours so that many residents cannot. “ So for example entering the morning about 200 liters, until 13.00 WITA has run out, due to the large number of requests,” he said. Meanwhile, Yosep, a resident of Adonara Island, East Flores, who has also been selling kerosene for about 10 years, admitted that the supply of kerosene has stopped for the past month. “ Currently at my base there are around 50 jeringen with a size of 5 liters to 20 liters lining up to buy kerosene. But unfortunately until now there is no more supply,” he said. Yosep admitted that he did not know what the cause was, but he expressed his hope that as soon as possible the problems related to the scarcity of kerosene could be resolved by various related parties.