Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia has for the first time appointed foreign and local private oil companies to distribute diesel and petrol in the domestic market from next year.

Petroliam Nasional Bhd., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PT Aneka Kimia Raya will be allowed to sell a small portion of the subsidized fuel in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, said Tubagus Haryono, chairman of the fuel and pipeline regulator BPHilir Migas.

Aneka Kimia is allotted to distribute 109,162 kiloliters (28.8 million gallons) of diesel, Royal Dutch Shell 5,110 kiloliters of petrol and Malaysia’s Petronas 20,440 kiloliters of petrol, Haryono said.

Indonesia will distribute 36.5 million kiloliters of fuel next year and the government will pay 556 rupiah ($0.06 cents) a liter to the companies for distributing the fuel in Borneo and Sumatra islands.

PT Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-oil company, will be tasked to transport the bulk of the subsidized fuel because of its “capacity and capability,” Haryono said.

Indonesia in December last year appointed Pertamina to exclusively sell subsidized fuel this year, the fourth consecutive year the state-oil company had been awarded the contract, beating bidders including Shell and Petronas.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bambang Dwi Djanuarto in Jakarta at bbjakarta@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 23, 2009 01:06 EDT