Good Or Bad News? The Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources Says That Premium Fuel Will Disappear Naturally

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Responding to the news of the removal of Premium BBM from the market, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources stated that Premium consumption is only small and will disappear naturally. Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tutuka Ariadjia, in a press conference, Monday, January 19, said that currently, the overall production of Premium type fuel oil (BBM) in Java and Bali is only 1 percent remaining.

"Later it will disappear naturally and will be replaced with pertalite," said Tutuka.

To replace the premium, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will provide compensation for the sale of Pertalite type fuel oil produced by PT Pertamina. As stated in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 117 of 2021 concerning the Third Amendment to Presidential Regulation Number 191 of 2014 concerning the Supply, Distribution and Retail Selling Price of BBM, the government can provide compensation for special fuel assignments.

However, Tutuka said the amount of compensation was still being studied and discussed with PT Pertamina (Persero). Director of Downstream Oil and Gas Business Development at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Soerjaningsih, added that Pertalite contains premium components that can be compensated. Pertalite contains a mixture of RON 88 (Premium) which is a special fuel assignment.

"We certainly hope that there will be improvements related to the quality of fuel consumed by the public, but still maintain its affordability. We also consider people's purchasing power," he said.

Previously, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif revealed that the trend of using Premium continues to decline so that without being abolished by the government, the use of Premium will gradually disappear by itself.