Biofuel producers and Pertamina, which is Indonesia’s largest fuel retailer, said they were ready for such a trial to determine the readiness of distribution, transportation and storage facilities to begin the mandatory use of the B30 biodiesel fuel, a diesel fuel blended with 30 percent palm-based biofuel.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's bioenergy director, Andriah Feby Misna, told The Jakarta Post that her office was still calculating the allocation of key biofuel ingredients, fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), for the production of the B30 biofuel.

The government will have to increase this year’s quota for subsidized FAME, which is currently fixed at 6.6 million kiloliters, to accommodate the commercial trial. “Hopefully everything will go well so we can execute the test by the end of November,” she said.

The use of palm-based biodiesel is subsidized by the government because its production cost is still below retail price.

While the energy ministry is still crunching numbers, an Indonesian Biodiesel Producers Association (APROBI) leader estimated the quota would need to be increased by between 250,000 and 400,000 kl, depending on whether the trial began in mid-November or early December.

“If last month was a road test conducted on cars, then this is a much bigger test, involving ships,” said APROBI executive director Paulus Tjakrawan, adding that retail prices would not change.

Last month, government researchers completed a road test measuring fuel consumption and emissions from eights cars and three trucks that were, respectively, driven 50,000 kilometers and 40,000 km on B30 biodiesel.

The road test’s coordinator, Dadan Kusdiana, who is also the energy ministry's head for research and development, told reporters last month that the vehicles consumed 0.87 percent more fuel compared to when they were driven on 20 percent blended biodiesel (B20).

“It does not mean the vehicles were more wasteful because, on the other hand, they had more power and better performance. In terms of [harmful] emissions, all were reduced, except for nitrogen dioxide, depending on the vehicle type,” he said. APROBI’s Paulus added that two other prerequisites to run the commercial trial were signing contracts and purchase orders between biofuel producers and fuel retailers, which included state-owned energy holding company Pertamina and other retailers such as Shell.

The state-owned company is the most critical retailer as it operates more than 90 percent of the country's gas stations and is the receiver of 82 percent of this year’s subsidized FAME, which is a derivative product of palm oil.

“Pertamina fully supports the government’s program to implement B30 starting January 2020,” said Pertamina’s processing director Budi Santoso Syarif, who oversees the company’s biofuel initiatives.

The mandatory use of B30 starting in January was announced by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in August, following the success of the preceding B20 policy. The President had said Indonesia would then “jump” to testing B50 by the end of next year.

For the government, such biodiesel policies are meant to simultaneously slash oil imports, which heavily contribute to the country’s trade deficit, and open new market opportunities for the domestic palm oil industry, which is concerned with future sales after the European Union announced earlier this year a plan to phase out palm oil consumption.

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