About DME Price, Will It Be More Expensive Than LPG? Observer: Our Society Is Too Comfortable With Elpiji

JAKARTA - The government's efforts to downstream coal products by gasification into Dimethyl Ether (DME) were met with various reactions by several groups. Energy Watch Executive Director Mamit Setiawan assessed that the steps taken by the government to carry out this downstreaming were the right ones. However, he questioned the price that would be set on this product.

"The problem going forward is about the price, in my opinion. Will it be cheaper than LPG or even more expensive?" said Mamit at the Indonesia Saying Morning event held by RRI, Tuesday, January 25.

According to him, it would be better if the price set was cheaper than LPG gas in order to attract people's interest to switch from using LPG to DME gas.

"Don't make it too expensive. Our society is already comfortable with LPG, so they are lazy to switch to DME even though this program is already good," he added.

If the price of coal gasification is more expensive than LPG, Mamit offers a solution, namely by providing subsidies for the community again, but in an amount that is not as large as the subsidies given to LPG.

Regarding the DME price fixing, the Acting Corporate Secretary of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Irto Ginting who was contacted by VOI could not give a definite answer because he still had to go through the discussion stage with the government.

"We have not received the calculation. (The price) will be determined by the government," he said via text message.

The previous day, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) conducted a groundbreaking for the coal downstream project into dimethyl ether (DME) in the Tanjung Enim Industrial Estate, Muara Enim, South Sumatra. The project is being worked on by PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) together with PT Pertamina and Air Products & Chemicals Inc. This project has an investment of IDR 33 trillion and will take 30 months.