Shell removed from list of subsidized fuel distributors

PT Shell Indonesia, the local subsidiary of global oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, will not be joining three other companies in distributing subsidized fuels next year, downstream oil and gas regulator BPH Migas said. BPH Migas Chairman Tubagus Haryono said that Shell had missed the deadline to submit a letter stating that it would accept the assignment. Previously, the job to distribute subsidized fuels was always given to state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina. But for 2010, BPH Migas had chosen three other companies to help Pertamina distribute subsidized fuels outside Java: Shell, PT Aneka Kimia Raya Corporindo (AKR) and PT Petronas Niaga Indonesia. Shell had been chosen to distribute up to 5,110 kiloliters a year, or 14 kiloliters a day, of premium gasoline in Medan, North Sumatra. (November 3, 2009)