JakartaGlobe/Antara-June 23
State-run oil giant Pertamina said Monday that the company had enough fuel supplies amid Iran’s plans to block the Strait of Hormuz. The US’ intervention in the Israel-Iran war has prompted Tehran to consider blocking the Strait of Hormuz. About 20 percent of the world’s oil transits through the strategic waterway. A majority of these fuels also go to Asia, thus sparking fears about the closure’s impact on Indonesia should Iran proceed with the plan. However, Heppy Wulansari, the corporate secretary of the subsidiary Pertamina Patra Niaga, tried to dispel concerns that the upcoming blockade could put the domestic fuel supplies at risk. “We have enough supplies,” Heppy Wulansari told the state-run news agency Antara on Monday. Likewise, Pertamina’s vice president for corporate communications Fadjar Djoko Santoso said that the closure plan was nothing to worry about. Pertamina is eyeing Oman and India as some of the alternative routes for its crude oil distribution. The company, however, is still calculating the new operational costs of these new routes. Despite the blockade concerns, Antara reported that fuel prices remained stable across Jakarta’s gas stations to this day. The Iranian parliament has given its nod to shut the Strait of Hormuz to shipping after the US bombed the country’s nuclear sites. The final decision regarding the Strait of Hormuz ban rests in the hands of the national security council. The US and the world’s oil markets are now bracing for Iran’s response. Read more at:
