Coordinating Minister For Maritime Affairs Leaks About Pertalite And Etanol Mixed Plans

Pertalite (Photo: dock. Antara)

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan revealed that the government is indeed reviewing the plan to remove Pertalite and mix the fuel with ethanol so as to produce fuel with a higher octane value.

"We'll do all of that later. Now it's being calculated. This (related to) pollution issues too," Luhut told the media at the Fairmont Hotel, Wednesday, September 6.

According to him, this is in line with the government's plan to reduce pollution and reduce emissions produced by fuel. Luhut admitted that currently the transportation sector is still the highest contributor to pollution in Indonesia so that the plan to mix fuel with bioetaol is the right step.

"So what is the name of ethanol, how much is the percent so that the sulfur is lacking," added Luhut.

Based on the facts on the ground, he said, 37 percent of motorcycles did not pass the emission test because they were still using bbm with low octane.

"So now we want to first fix the fuel. From that, we will do everything in a measured manner," he said.

Luhut explained that currently his party has asked the Indonesia and Australia partnership program for the economy (Prospera) to carry out a study on this matter.

"Now what we are doing is just filling in, not complete data yet. I think after the study conducted in the next week, we will know the target and it will be better. The President asked us to fix everything," explained Luhut.

For your information, the discourse on removing pertalite was originally disclosed by the President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Nicke Widyawati in a Hearing Meeting with Commission VII DPR RI. Nicke explained that Pertamina is still conducting studies to sell environmentally friendly fuels in 2024 such as Pertamax Green 92, Pertamax Green 95 and Pertamax Turbo.

Pertamax Green 92 is a mixture of Pertalite type fuel with an octane value of 90 with 7 percent ethanol and Pertamax Green 95 which is a mixture of Pertamax with 8 percent ethanol.

"So next year there will be only 3 products, first Pertamax Green 92 with mixed RON 90 with 7 percent ethanol or E7, second Pertamax Green 95 with Pertamax with 8 percent ethanol and the third is Pertamax Turbo," said Nicke, Wednesday, August 30.