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Pertamina to replace Pertalite with biofuel product next year
State-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina will replace its Pertalite RON 90 gasoline with "Pertamax Green 92", which contains a ethanol, in hopes of reducing air pollution.
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Employees work on March 1, 2022, at a gas station in Tangerang, Banten.
(AFP/Adek Berry)
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tate-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina said it will next year stop sales of Pertalite, its branded gasoline with a research octane number (RON) of 90, as the company seeks to replace it with a new biofuel product, which it hopes will help the country curb pollution.
The new biofuel will comprise a mixture of Pertalite and 7 percent ethanol that will result in a RON 92 gasoline on par with the Pertamax product. Pertamina will name it “Pertamax Green 92” even though 93 percent of the fuel will still be derived from fossil fuels.
Pertamina president director Nicke Widyawati said on Wednesday that this will allow the company to move the fuel subsidy to RON 92, which has slightly lower CO2 emissions than Pertalite, which is currently subsidized by the government along with Solar, Pertamina’s diesel product.
“Therefore, we are asking for support, we will release another [biofuel] which we call Pertamax Green 92, produced by mixing Pertalite with ethanol,” she told lawmakers of House Commission VII overseeing energy and mineral affairs.
Read also: Govt mulls switching fuel subsidy to Pertamax to curb pollution
The move follows Pertamina’s recent release of another biofuel product called “Pertamax Green 95”, which is a mix of Pertamax and 5 percent bioethanol derived from sugarcane waste. Despite the green label, 95 percent of the mixture is comprised of fossil fuel.
Nicke said next year the company will increase the bioethanol mixture to 8 percent on that product.
