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tate oil and gas company Pertamina'€™s marketing director Ahmad Bambang said on Monday that his company was set to begin the distribution of Pertalite, a research octane number (RON) 90 fuel, in May.

'€œWe are around 90 percent ready,'€ he said as quoted by tempo.co in Jakarta on Sunday.

Bambang said Pertamina was ready to produce, introduce, launch and distribute the new fuel.

Pertamina would start by introducing Pertalite, which replaces the current RON 88 Premium, to the motorists of Jakarta and surrounding areas before distributing the new fuel product to several other big cities in Java.

In the initial stage of distribution, Ahmad said Pertamina would channel 500 kiloliters of Pertalite per day before increasing the rate to 1,000 kiloliters per day.

One of the obstacles affecting the launch of Pertalite, he went on, was related to its distribution permit. Pertamina is still waiting for approval for the launch of Pertalite from the House of Representatives.

'€œOnce we get the House'€™s approval, we will launch it in May,'€ said Ahmad.

Earlier, Pertamina said it planned to release Pertalite, which would have a RON of 90, slightly higher than the current widely used RON 88, in May. It said the launch of the RON 90 fuel would be a transitional period ahead of the withdrawal of RON 88 premium within the next two years, in line with government directives.

The plan has drawn sharp criticism from various parties that, among other problems, Pertamina'€™s policy is not in line with a recommendation from the oil and gas sector reform team, which urged Pertamina to replace the current Premium with Pertamax.