A recent government investigation has found no problems with the premium gasoline sold by state oil and gas company PT Pertamina, leaving taxi operators in the dark over the cause of widespread fuel pump failures.
Evita Herawati Legowo, the director general for oil and gas at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said the government had studied premium gasoline samples taken from four locations: Pertamina’s fuel depot in Plumpang, North Jakarta, a Gamya Taxi depot, and two Pertamina fuel stations.
The government studied 15 fuel characteristics, including physical appearances as well as sulfur and lead concentration, in the surveyed samples.
“We did not find anything wrong with the fuel. All the studied characteristics meet the required standards,” Evita said at a press conference Friday.
The results, however, do not sit well with major taxi operator Blue Bird Group. “If there are no problems with the fuel, what is the real problem then? We still have many questions as the fuel pump failures continue,” Blue Bird public relations official Teguh Wijayanto said.
He added that Blue Bird taxis had used Pertamina’s premium gasoline for a long time and had no problems until June this year when the fuel pumps in many of its cars suddenly jammed. Other taxi operators reported similar problems, as have individual car owners.
The spate of incidents is so far limited to Greater Jakarta. As of July 23, 1,400 Blue Bird taxis suffered from the problem.
The marketing director of PT Toyota Astra Motor, the country’s largest car firm, Joko Trisanyoto, said the demand for replacement fuel pumps increased sharply in the last three months.
“Normally, the demand is for between 60 to 80 units per month. But the demand showed a fourfold jump in the last three months,” he said.
Evita said that the government had asked Pertamina and the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) to conduct further investigation to find out the causes of the problem.
Currently, downstream oil and gas regulator BPH Migas and the government’s oil and gas research and development center (Lemigas) are also investigating the matter. BPH Migas committee member Adi Subagyo said BPH Migas had taken several fuel samples from various locations, including from Pertamina fuel depots, fuel stations, fuel station dispensers and from affected vehicles. “We have submitted the samples to Lemigas’ laboratories,” Adi said.
He added that early findings indicated no problems in the fuel samples taken from Pertamina depots and fuel stations. “However, the fuel taken from affected cars was darker in color,” he said.
Adi added that, based on interviews with several drivers, the fuel pump problem occurred in cars using mixed fuels. “We do not know yet if [the mixing of fuels] is related to the problem,” he said.
Pertamina marketing and business director Djaelani Sutomo said the company was also investigating its premium gasoline quality. “We have submitted 45 premium gasoline samples to the Bandung Institute of Technology,” he said. Djaelani said the fuel pump problem did not have a significant impact on Pertamina’s fuel sales.
