Netizens React Negatively to Fuel Shortages at Private Gas Stations in Indonesia

Several private gas stations (SPBU) in Indonesia have experienced fuel shortages since the end of August 2025.

According to Kompas Research and Development's monitoring, this condition has triggered many negative posts and comments from netizens.

Of all conversations related to this issue on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X monitored from September 15-17, 2025, the majority, or 76%, contained negative sentiment.

"This figure shows that the fuel shortage at private SPBUs has angered and inconvenienced netizens," said the Kompas Research and Development team in its report on Saturday (September 20, 2025).

Many of the comments found complained about the difficulty of obtaining fuel at their usual private SPBUs.

Meanwhile, 16% of conversations had neutral sentiment, and only 8% had positive connotations.

Kompas Research and Development also found 10 conversation topics related to this issue with the highest frequency of appearance.

The topic concerning Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia received the highest negative sentiment, at 82.9%.

This was triggered by Bahlil's statement that he would not open additional import taps for private SPBUs. Bahlil also urged private SPBUs to buy fuel from Pertamina for resale to consumers.

"Netizens believe that the presence of Shell, BP, and Vivo should bring a breath of fresh air to healthy market competition to provide the best quality service to customers in Indonesia," said Kompas Research and Development.