REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina said it will build oil fuel (BBM) depots in isolated islands to better guarantee supply and prevent price instability in isolated islands of the country.

Preparations are being made in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), where there are a number of regencies made up of small islands that could be reached only by small boats.

Fuel depots would be built soon when lands have been available for the location of the facility, head of the mining and energy office of East Nusa Tenggara province Thobias Uly said here on Saturday.

Thobias said depots would be built in Rote Ndao on the island of Rote, and Sabu Raijua on the island of Sabu, Manggarai Barat, Sumba Barat on the island of Sumba and in Atambua-Belu on the island of Timor.

The depots would be filled with diesel oil and gasoline as stocks enough for three to four months to prevent shortage in supply and keep the price from surging, he said.

The storage capacity of depots will be adjusted to the requirement in each islands, he added.

The depots would be built with ports, where there has been no port to facilitate transport of fuel from the supply center, he said.

He said shortage in supply has often triggered soaring in fuel prices , adding supply is also often hampered by stormy weather in the sea delaying transport of supply.

"The prices could soared as high as 100 percent when supply to the islands is delayed," he said.

Rote, for example, needs around 4,500 kiloliters per three months, he said.

He said PT Pertamina will cooperate with the district administrations in the procurement of land where the depots would be built.

Pertamina also plans to build additional units of depots in the regencies of Manggarai Barat and Sumba Barat Daya.

"So far BBM for Manggarai Barat has been supplied from a depot in the regency of Manggarai, and BBM for Sumba Barat is supplied from a Pertamina depot in the regency of Sumba Timur.

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