Pertamina Must Be Active In Responding To Public Complaints On Pertalite Price And Quality, CERI: Don't Just Be Silent, That's Arrogant!

JAKARTA - Executive Director of the Center of Energy and Resources Indonesia (CERI) Yusri Usman urged Pertamina to answer public complaints regarding the increase in Pertalite prices and the price comparison between Pertalite owned by Pertamina and Revvo 89 owned by the Vivo gas station. According to him, this should be addressed with concrete evidence that can restore public confidence in Pertamina's fuel products.

"So Pertamina must not just remain silent, that is arrogant," Yusri said in a statement to the media, Monday, September 26.

According to Yusri, Pertamina should be more active in offering itself to anyone, including the Indonesian Consumer Institution which is considered to represent the public interest in conducting investigations.

"Although it should be an obligation carried out by the Directorate General of Oil and Gas SESDM and BPH Migas to ensure that the technical specifications of Pertamina's fuel products consumed by the people are indeed appropriate," said Yusri.

The reason, continued Yusri, is that many factors can occur to reduce the quality of fuel, because in principle gasoline is easy to evaporate when the air is hot and mixed with the remaining dirt in the fuel tank.

"So that the transfer of fuel from the refinery to the fuel depot and then to the gas station or from the ship to the fuel depot can potentially occur, for example in the fuel depot tank resulting from the Pertalite Ron 90 blending can occur when at the gas station it has become Ron 89," said Yusri.

Please note, continued Yusri, Vivo as a retail seller of BBM Renvo 89, belongs to Vitol Ltd, who is a large trader of crude and fuel oil and LPG supplied to Pertamina as well.

"They don't trade fuel under Ron 92, so it could be that Renvo Ron 89, which Vivo gas stations sell, could be worth more than Ron 90," explained Yusri.

Because in principle, said Yusri, the higher the fuel octane, the more efficient the use, because the burning is better than low octane.

"Given the proof of fuel quality, it must be carried out from laboratory testing, namely by testing whether the octane content is at Ron 89 or Ron 90 or Ron 92 using the Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) tool, it is only available in Lemigas, apart from Pertamina and the TPPI refinery in Tuban," Yusri explained.

In addition, continued Yusri, the trials of Parafinic, Olifinic, Naftanic and Aromatic (PONA) content in each type of fuel must be carried out, to avoid the threshold exceeded as stated in the specifications of each type of Pertamina's fuel, namely the content of Olefin, Aromatic and Benzena and Distilasi.

"Therefore, the public really hopes that Pertamina can work quickly to answer doubts about the quality of their fuel, lest Pertamina be sued to court for violating the law," concluded Yusri.