Pertamina Scraps Gasoline Purchases; Prices Too High

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

28 Sep 2007

PT Pertamina, Indonesia's state- owned oil company, canceled plans to buy gasoline for October delivery because of high prices, said two company officials who declined to be identified, citing internal policy. The Jakarta-based company had sought to buy 88-RON gasoline through two tenders, the officials said. It had planned to purchase 200,000 barrels for delivery to Jakarta and 140,000 barrels for loading in Singapore early next month. Pertamina sought to buy the fuel after China National United Oil Corp. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, failed to supply the fuel under term agreements. Both companies could not deliver the cargoes because of a fuel shortage in China. The offers for the 140,000 barrel cargo were more than $3 a barrel above the Singapore assessments by pricing agency Platts, one of the officials said. Sinopec, China's biggest refiner, had to import gasoline into Shanghai for September to help meet a production shortfall. It took delivery of the 30,000 metric ton, 93-RON gasoline cargo on Sept 20, parent China Petrochemical Corp. said in its in-house newsletter Sinopecnews on Sept. 21. The Chinese government ordered Sinopec and PetroChina Co., the country's biggest oil company, to boost fuel imports, production and distribution to end shortages caused by increased travel during the summer.  Sinopec was to provide the cargo to be loaded in Singapore while China Oil was to deliver the 200,000-barrel cargo to Jakarta, according to the officials. RON, or research octane number, is a measure of the quality of gasoline.