REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - As much as 4.7 million kiloliters of fuel oil has been used to operate diesel generators till September this year, according to state electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).
"We believe that 6.5 million kiloliters of fuel oil will be consumed by the end of the year," he added.
Mardjoeki further stated that till September, the largest fuel consumption of 2.7 million kiloliters was recorded in Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra. The company plans to allocate 3.5 million kiloliters of fuel oil to Medan in 2014. But fuel consumption in the provincial capital is expected to fall to 5.5 million kiloliters next year while the use of gas and coal will increase.
The figure is projected to further decline to the tune of 1-2 million kiloliters by 2016 and 2017. The PLN division head pointed out that fuel oil consumption could be lowered to a maximum of one million kiloliters.
"Fuel oil consumption cannot be brought down to zero because we will still require some fuel oil to establish thermal power plants," Mardjoeki explained.
Furthermore, 290 trillion British thermal units (TBTU) of gas has been consumed till September. This is expected to soar to 450 TBTU by the end of the year. In 2013, fuel oil and gas consumption hit 7.4 million kiloliters and 410 TBTU, respectively.