Pertamina President Director Issues an Apology
President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Simon Aloysius Mantiri expressed his deepest apologies to the people of Bali for the long fuel queues that occurred at a number of gas stations (SPBU) over the past few days.
Simon issued the apology after holding a coordination meeting with Bali Governor Wayan Koster at the Fuel Terminal Sanggaran, Denpasar, on Tuesday (13/10/2026). He emphasized that service to the public remains the company's top priority.
Ship's Anchor Is the Culprit
Simon revealed that the main cause of the fuel supply disruption, specifically for Pertalite and Pertamax, was a technical issue on the transport vessel. The ship encountered anchor difficulties while preparing to offload its cargo.
The ship, originally scheduled to dock and unload cargo on Monday (12/10/2026) at 06.30 WITA, was only able to resume the process around 22.00 WITA. The delay of about 16 hours disrupted the entire fuel distribution plan that had been prepared.
In addition to technical constraints, Pertamina noted that a surge in subsidized fuel consumption has also affected stock availability. A significant price gap has led many residents to switch to Pertalite, altering consumption patterns and putting pressure on stocks at the distribution level.
3 km Queue, Residents Faint
The impact of the supply disruption was keenly felt on the ground. In Dalung, Badung, vehicle queues leading to gas stations snaked for up to 3 kilometers on Wednesday (14/10/2026) morning. Motorcyclists had been queuing since the early hours of the morning and were willing to wait for up to five hours, although quite a few returned home without getting fuel.
In Gianyar, a resident reportedly fainted, allegedly due to exhaustion, after queuing for a long time under the scorching sun. A similar fate befell a resident in Jembrana who had a history of epilepsy and suddenly fell off their motorcycle while waiting in line.
To clear the queues, police officers from Polsek Kuta Utara and Polres Badung were deployed to help manage the flow of vehicles at several gas stations.
Pertamina's Normalization Steps
Pertamina, together with Pertamina Patra Niaga and the Bali Provincial Government, moved quickly to normalize operations. Several measures were taken, including accelerating deliveries from docked ships and speeding up the fuel distribution flow from depots to all gas stations across Bali.
A number of strategic fuel stations have now been put on standby to operate 24 hours a day across Denpasar, Badung, Jembrana, Tabanan, Karangasem, Buleleng, and Gianyar. Pertamina has also increased the fuel supply by 26,200 kiloliters, delivered in stages.
Pertamina has assured that fuel supplies in Bali are secure for the next two weeks. Additional supplies of Pertalite and Pertamax are scheduled to arrive in stages from October 15 to 17, 2026. Simon promised that queue conditions will soon return to normal.
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