Mita Valina Liem, The Jakarta Globe, January 5, 2009
A ministerial decree on the price of three-kilogram liquefied petroleum gas canisters is expected to be ready by today, a senior official says.
The release of the decree would open up the first canister tender of 2009 to bidders, yet another step in the country’s conversion program from kerosene to gas.
“With God’s blessing, the ministerial decree will be ready by Monday [today],” Ansari Bukhari, director general of metals, textiles and machinery at the Ministry of Industry, said on Sunday.
He added that the price of the LPG canisters was expected to remain unchanged from last year’s price of Rp 129,857 ($11.95) each.
Ansari said that state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina may launch a tender for the production of the canisters as early as next week.
Meanwhile, Anang Noor, a spokesman for Pertamina, said that the company planned to start accepting bids for the production of 1.5 million LPG canisters as soon as the ministerial decree was ready.
Indonesia has recently been encouraging its more than 220 million citizens to use cheaper and more environmentally friendly fuels — such as grain- and seed-based biofuels and natural gas — in a bid to ease the heavy burden of fuel subsidies on the national budget.
Pertamina, which has been working on the conversion program since 2006, aims to disburse 46 million canisters nationwide this year.
With more consumers getting access to the canisters, demand for LPG is expected to jump by 50 percent this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.