Shell, Petronas to build gas stations outside Java

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government has licensed foreign oil and gas companies Shell and Petronas to build gas stations outside Java later this year, an Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry official said.

"But I cannot mention where the gas stations will be built," the director of downstream business development at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Erie Soedarmo, said here on Thursday.

The two companies currently run a number of gas stations in Jakarta and environs.

The planned construction of gas stations could be part of the companies` preparations to engage in the sale of premium gasoline and subsidized diesel oil, he said.

Under Law No.22/2001 on Oil and Gas, the government was allowing companies other than state oil and gas firm Pertamina which had so far monopolized the distribution of subsidized fuel oil to engage in the business, he said.

However, no company except Pertamina met the requirements to engage in the distribution of subsidized fuel oil, he said.

One of the requirements was that the companies must have gas stations in and outside Java, he said.