Indonesia’s state oil company PT Pertamina will import a higher-than-expected 12.17 million barrels of oil products in April, due to refinery problems and higher utility demand, industry sources said.

Its April volumes will be up 4.2 per cent from March imports of 11.68 million barrels and will help further buoy Asian distillate markets at a time of robust global demand and record prices, leaving Indonesia to struggle with lofty fuel subsidies. Pertamina had said in late February that fuel imports were expected to be 11.5-11.6 million barrels in April. 
“Domestic supply is not enough due to some minor refinery problems. That has been already ironed out but demand is looking good for transportation fuels,” said a Pertamina source, who declined to be identified.
A fire at the firm’s 348,000 barrels per day (bpd) Cilacap refinery on March 9 killed three people and caused some disruptions to supply. The refinery came back up soon after. 
But the Cilacap plant, the biggest in the country and accounts for nearly 35 per cent of the total refinery capacity, suffered fresh technical problems, forcing it to run at half its capacity, a company official said.
Pertamina will import 4.3 million barrels of gasoline in April, up from 3.96 million barrels this month. It will buy a steady 6 million barrels of diesel and 280,000 barrels of jet fuel, said an industry source familiar with the programme.
Kerosene imports will increase to 480,000 barrels in April, from 340,000 barrels in March, as domestic refineries are ramping up diesel output to meet strong industrial demand.
State electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has switched to using diesel-fired generators since February due to a shortage of domestic coal following disruptions to shipments that had triggered power blackouts in Java and Bali.
Pertamina’s March and April diesel imports rose from 4.7 million barrels bought for January and 4.4 million barrels for February.
It will import 1.11 million barrels of fuel oil in April, similar to March imports of 1.10 million barrels.
Holiday demand also draws down supply, as people travel to their hometowns.
Indonesia could expect oil subsidies to hit 100 trillion rupiah ($10.79 billion) this year due to sky-high crude prices, the energy ministry said last week, warning it was unclear how long the nation could withstand such pressure.
The country’s annual inflation edged up to 7.4 per cent in February after spiking to 7.36 per cent a month earlier, the highest since September 2006’s 14.6 per cent on the back of high prices of food staples.