Makassar, S Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - State oil and gas company Pertamina has set itself the target of operating 5,000 gas stations across the country by 2009 to give motorists easy access to fuel oil, an official said.

Pertamina now only had 3,500 gas stations which were far from enough to serve motorists comfortably, Djaelani Sutomo, the company`s vice president for retail fuel oil marketing, said here Wednesday.

The plan to build more gas stations was one of Pertamina`s strategies to compete with its rivals following the government`s decision to terminate the company`s monopoly in the oil and gas business in the country, he said.

Compared to neighboring countries like Malaysia and Thailand, the number of gas stations in Indonesia was relatively small, he said.

Malaysia now had an estimated 7,000 gas stations and Thailand around 17,000 gas stations, he said.

After all, Indonesian gas stations sold an average of 20 kiloliters per day each, the highest in the world, he said.

On average, gas stations in other countries sold 5 to 7 kiloliters per day, he said.

Djaelani said Pertamina was planning to build around 9,000 gas stations by 2012.(*)

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