There Is An Etanol Content In Base Fuel, Bahlil: It's According To The Standards

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia opened his voice on the content of ethanol of 3.5 percent in Pertamina's pure fuel (base fuel) imported for private gas stations.

According to Bahlil, actually all fuel products distributed to gas stations owned by Pertamina and the private sector have passed a series of standard testing conducted by the government through Lemigas.

"And if it doesn't pass the standard, it will definitely not be distributed. And everything is in accordance with the standards," said Bahlil, quoted on Wednesday, October 8.

He added that the ethanol content in pure fuel as long as it is still below 20 percent is not a problem. Especially if the ethanol is pure ethanol with a level of 99.95 percent.

"And what Pertamina did yesterday was that it had met the standards," said Bahlil.

Previously, Pertamina Patra Niaga's Deputy President Director, Achmad Muchtasyar, revealed that if Vivo canceled buying base fuel from Pertamina, although previously he had agreed to buy 40,000 barrels from Pertamina.

The former Director General of Oil and Gas explained that the reason Vivo resigned from this agreement was because there was a content in Pertamina's basefuel that did not match Vivo's specifications, namely ethanol content.

"The issue conveyed by fellow gas stations is about content. The content contains ethanol," he said.

In fact, he said, the ethanol content in the basefuel is still within the threshold set by the government.

He detailed that the basefuel that Pertamina had imported had an ethanol content of 3.5 percent.

Although the agreement was canceled, Achmad ensured that the private gas station operaor agreed to supply the base fuel imported from the next cargo.

"Friends of private gas stations are pleased if later on cargo they are ready to negotiate if later the content is safe for the specification characteristics of each product. Because these are different brands, different specifications," he said.