Indonesia’s Pertamina seeks petrol for July-December, excludes Singapore supply

[SINGAPORE/JAKARTA] Indonesia’s Pertamina has issued five tenders to buy nearly three million barrels of petrol a month for delivery between July and December, and excluded Singapore as the origin of supply in two of the tenders, documents showed on Monday (May 19).

Indonesia is considering a cut to fuel imports from Singapore, its largest petrol supplier, and instead increase supply from the US as part of negotiations over steep US tariffs.

The state-owned refiner is seeking to buy up to 1.6 million barrels of 90-octane petrol a month for delivery either between July and September or between July and December this year, the documents reviewed by Reuters showed.

It is also seeking another 1.2 million barrels of 92-octane petrol a month over the same period.

The tenders close on May 20, with offers valid until May 30.

Most of the cargoes will likely be delivered to Tuban, Tanjung Uban, Merak, Semarang, Balongan and Plumpang.

Pertamina’s trading arm, Pertamina Patra Niaga, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pertamina has sought to cancel or defer at least one million barrels of June-loading petrol purchased via term deals, two sources familiar with the matter said late last week.

It is still unclear whether any seller had agreed to the request, the sources added today.

Indonesia imported around 8.4 million barrels of the motor fuel on average each month between January and April, LSEG shiptracking data showed, down from an average of 10.63 million barrels in the same period a year ago. REUTERS