Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Allow The Question Of The Elimination Of Pertalite And Premium Plans

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrifi has been bombarded with questions regarding PT Pertamina (Persero) 's plan to eliminate environmentally unfriendly fuel oil (BBM), namely pertalite and premium in a working meeting with Commission VII of the DPR.

Arifin also confirmed the plan to remove pertalite and premium. This is because the government wants to encourage the use of environmentally friendly fuel. This is in line with the government's steps in reducing carbon emissions.

According to Arifin, the use of premium has also been abandoned by many developed countries. However, Indonesia is still listed as one of the six countries in the world that is still consuming premiums.

"We have a commitment to reduce long-term emissions. Now we are already advancing using new standards to reduce emissions, so indeed in the future there will be replacements to be able to use cleaner energy," he said, in a working meeting with Commission VII DPR, Thursday. , June 25th.

Responding to the statement of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Deputy Chairman of Commission VII Ramson Siagian as chairman of the meeting requested that the government, in this case the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, and Pertamina not immediately withdraw the two types of fuel from circulation.

Ramson asked, before pertalite and premiums are completely removed, the government must make adjustments to society.

"Minister, I am democratic. Apart from the internal decision, the joint decision by the minister also remembers that this is also a very important note. Pertalite and premiums should not be removed from gas stations so that there will be adjustments so that the people are not surprised," said Ramson.

Previously, Pertamina's Managing Director Nicke Widyawati explained that product processing would later refer to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) Regulation Number 20 of 2017 concerning restrictions on the Research Octane Number (RON) or the octane of the BBM used.

In this regulation, the RON limit in gasoline products is regulated, namely a minimum of 91 with a maximum sulfur content of 50 ppm and a minimum cetane number threshold of 51 with a maximum sulfur content of 50 ppm for diesel products. The rules define product thresholds with a minimum of the Euro IV standard.

Nicke said the world and the government had agreed to reduce exhaust or carbon emissions by encouraging the use of energy that was more environmentally friendly.