Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Please Use Biodiesel Efforts To Reduce Fuel Imports

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has completed a road test for the use of B40 fuel on diesel-engine vehicles.

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Arifin Tasrif, said that the implementation of B40 could be carried out in early 2023.

"After this, the Government will issue technical recommendations for the B40 implementation policy and can be implemented immediately," he said in a statement to the media, Wednesday, November 2.

He added that the use of Nabati Fuel (BBN), especially biodiesel, is expected as a strategic effort to reduce imports of fuel oil (BBM) while increasing the new and renewable energy mix (EBT) in Indonesia.

"First, I am happy that the B40 perfoma can respond to the energy needs of vehicles. Second, the emissions can decrease because the use of Bioenergy is getting higher. We should be grateful that our country provides a lot of potential energy sources," he continued.

Arifin admitted that the government will continue to encourage the use of existing energy sources in Indonesia.

"Our eyes are now only open amid the crisis of the Russian conflict with Ukraine which caused difficulties in energy supply, especially oil and gas because many oil and gas sources in Russia could not be utilized and then the oil and gas manufacturer, OPEC+, reduced production," he said.

Currently, continued Arifin, it is the right time to develop new and renewable energy to meet the domestic fuel needs that have been met through imports.

"We imagine now that our oil production is approximately 650,000 barrels per day while our needs are 1.3 million barrels per day. What happens if we can't buy the 650,000 barrels because there is no supply. Moreover, our ability is only 50 percent, the half of our needs are met from imported oil," he added.

For this reason, he continued, Indonesia must start trying to take advantage of renewable energy sources, especially to be used.

Arifin said that the world's tourism ecosystem is already running to overcome the dependence on fossil energy and Indonesia has the ability to carry out the available area of land.

"In addition to palm oil, other energy sources that are also being developed are ethanol," concluded Arifin.