Pertamina: Premium Can Only Be Removed By President Jokowi

Illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - Indonesia is one of seven countries in the world that still maintains the use of RON 88 or Premium gasoline. Even in ASEAN, only Indonesia still uses premium gasoline. Premium gasoline with low RON causes high pollution, and is called not environmentally friendly.

This condition makes the government commit to providing more environmentally friendly fuel oil (BBM). The seven countries that still use Premium fuel are Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Mongolia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Pertamina's Vice President for Promotion & Marketing Communication, Arifun Dahlia, said Pertamina was only a vendor or executor of government duties. The sale of Premium gasoline was carried out by Pertamina because it received an assignment from the government.

Arifun said that the termination of the assignment's fuel distribution policy could only be done through a Presidential Regulation (Perpres). This means that only President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) can eliminate Premium gasoline.

"Pertamina is very obedient to the government as the regulator that Premium must be provided. The Perpres must be issued first. Then we will execute it. For Premium it must be a Presidential Decree," he said in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, November 18.

Even so, Arifun did not want to reveal in detail whether Pertamina had discussed the plan to remove Premium or not.

"Sorry, it's not my authority," he said.

For your information, gasoline products sold in Indonesia are the largest in the world. Pertamina's data states that Indonesia sells six types or variants of gasoline. Starting from RON 88, RON 89, RON 90, RON 92, RON 95, and RON 98. This makes it inefficient, because gas stations have to provide many tanks to sell these various types of gasoline.

Currently, Premium users in Indonesia are only 30 percent of the total consumption of fuel oil (BBM). While Pertalite is more environmentally friendly, its consumption reaches 55 percent.

To promote the use of Pertalite and keep people away from Premium, Pertamina will sell Pertalite for Premium in 85 districts / cities in Java, Madura and Bali until the end of November 2020.

Under this program, Pertalite will be discounted from IDR 1,200 per liter to IDR 6,450 per liter, or the equivalent of the price of Premium gasoline.

Previously, the Director General of Pollution Control and KLHK MR Karliansyah delivered information regarding the exhaustion of Premium fuel in Java, Madura and Bali during a virtual discussion on Friday, November 13.

Karliansyah admitted that he had met with Pertamina's Operations Director. He said that starting January 1, 2021, Pertamina would eliminate Premium in Java, Madura and Bali.

"Thank God, last Monday I met Pertamina's Operations Director. He said that as of January 1, 2021, Premium in Jamali in particular will be eliminated. Then other cities in Indonesia will follow," he said.