JAKARTA ~

The government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resouces (ESDM) will set fuel prices once in three months so that the price will not fluctuate.

“We will set the prices of fuels in every three months to make stable so that it would not pose problems to the consumers,” ESDM Minister Sudirman Said stated on Sunday.

He said that his side right now needed time to observe and analyze the movements of fuel prices so that the ministry would be able to set the price in November.

“We need to observe the movements of the oil prices to see whether we can already set the price,” Said added.

He said that the government will set an upper and lower price limits. When the basic price of fuels (in the world market) is lower than the lower limit set by the government, the difference would be used as a contribution substitute when the basic price is higher than the upper limit set by the government.

The system is believed to not burden the reserve funds of the state budget because there would be reserve funds to cover the difference.

In the meantime, the world oil price now increased on Saturday morning with a reference of the light sweet crude or the West Texas International for the July shipment. It rose 2.62 dollars at the closing to 60.30 dollars per barrel in the New York Marcantile Exchange.

In Londan, the European reference, the Brent crude for the July shipment rose 2.98 to 65.56 dollars per barrel.

The government has decided to keep fuel prices unchanged as of June 1 despite a rise in average global oil prices during the evaluation time from April 25 to May 24.

The fact that the public will enter the fasting month of Ramadhan is one of the reasons behind the decision, Director General of Oil and Gas at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry I Gusti Nyoman Wiratmaja Puja said in a press statement released on Sunday.

Wiratmaja said the price of premium gasoline outside Java, Madura and Bali remains unchanged at Rp7,300 per liter, and the prices of subsidized diesel oil and kerosene at Rp6,900 and Rp2,500 per liter, respectively.

He said state oil and gas company PT Pertamina will set the price of premium gasoline in Java, Madura and Bali by coordinating with the government and taking into account social and economic conditions.