Why Doesn't Pertalite's Fuel Price Fall Like Pertamax? This Is An Explanation From Pertamina And The Minister Of SOEs

Illustration of refueling Photo: Doc. Antara)

YOGYAKARTA - Pertamina officially lowered the price of Pertamax fuel oil (BBM) from IDR 13,900 per liter to IDR 12,800 per liter. However, this policy was not applied to pertalite and diesel.

So, why doesn't the price of fuel with RON 90 go down?

The current price of Pertalite is still IDR 10,000 per liter. The government and PT Pertamina decided not to lower the price of pertalite even though the world oil price had fallen to a level of US$79 per barrel

"Especially for diesel and pertalite the price remains. Why? Because this is subsidized by the government and the subsidies are huge," said Pertamina President Director Nicke Widyawati at Pertamina gas station MT Haryono, South Jakarta, Tuesday (3/1).

Pertalite is sold by Pertamina for IDR 10,000 per liter. However, by competitors or retailers, the price of Pertalite reaches IDR 12 thousand to IDR 13 thousand per liter.

Nicke Widyawati revealed the reason why the price of Pertalite did not fall as was done at Pertamax. Pertalite and Solar prices were not lowered because the government had distributed a large enough subsidy for the sale of the two fuels.

"Solar, Pertalite is still the price. Because today the government is helping it is very large. Solar is Rp. 6,800/liter, even though this competitor is more than double. The large subsidy is Rp. 6,500, almost the same (to the selling price)," said Nicke at Pertamina gas station MT Haryono, South Jakarta, Tuesday (3/1/2022).

Nicke said that Pertamina sells the price of Solar at half the market price. According to Nicke, Pertalite, which is sold by Pertamina is also cheaper than competitors. He said, when prices in the world rose, Indonesia still maintained prices because of its large subsidies.

SOE Minister Erick Thohir also gave a response as to why the price of Pertalite did not fall. Erick said that the government helped Pertalite subsidies by 1,100. This program is a government step to help the economic condition of the community.

"An important note is that the fuel assisted by the government, such as Pertalite, which is still high in world prices, our selling price is Rp. 10,000, it is still assisted by the government at Rp. 1,100," said Minister Erick.

Febrio N. Kacaribu, Head of BKF, also opened up about the discussion that the price of Pertalite did not go down. Febrio said that the price of subsidized fuel depends heavily on a number of factors, namely the price of Indonesian crude oil or the Indonesia Crude Price (ICP), the Rupiah exchange rate against the United States Dollar (US), and the volume of use of these types of fuel.

"This subsidy BBM will depend heavily on our ICP, its exchange rate and volume. In particular, we see how economic growth continues to strengthen, of course demand will increase, so that the government seeks to see on the one hand to maintain the direction of reform so that it remains targeted," said Febrio at the press conference. our State Budget, Tuesday (3/1/2023).

Pertamax prices fell by Rp1,100 per liter starting Tuesday (3/1) at 14.00. The decline in fuel prices was made after world oil prices have now fallen. Previously, world oil experienced a price spike during the war between Russia and Ukraine.

"We will lower the first hand, this is very competitive with other competitors. And it means a lot because the market share of Pertamax is 97.4% among other RON 92 fuels, this has an impact on the community to increase productivity," said Nicke.

The following is information on the decline in the price of Pertamax Cs fuel at all Indonesian gas stations.

That's the information why Pertalite prices don't fall like Pertamax prices. The government will continue to monitor the development of Indonesian crude oil and world oil prices.

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