"We convened a meeting with Mr. President last night, and he has given the green light to our plan for a 10 percent mandatory ethanol policy (E10)," Lahadalia remarked in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He emphasized that the E10 policy aims not only to lessen Indonesia’s dependence on imported fuel but also to promote the use of cleaner and more environmentally friendly gasoline.
Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has expressed support for the government’s green fuel initiative, citing the need to strengthen national energy security.
"Mr. Minister (Lahadalia) is pushing to reinforce the biofuel ecosystem, and we have started with B40 biodiesel. Next year, as the minister said, we plan to begin implementing the E10 policy," Pertamina President Director Simon Aloysius Mantiri stated.
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B40 refers to an eco-friendly diesel fuel that blends 40 percent palm-based fatty acid methyl esters with conventional diesel. The government launched a program to promote the biofuel in January this year.
According to Mantiri, Pertamina has already taken steps to introduce ethanol into its fuel through Pertamax Green 95, which contains five percent ethanol.
The announcement of the E10 policy follows reports that some private filling station operators have been reluctant to purchase base fuel imported by Pertamina to address shortages. The hesitation reportedly stems from the imported fuel’s 3.5 percent ethanol content.
On Monday (October 6), the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry noted that vehicles operating in Indonesia are compatible with fuels containing up to 20 percent ethanol.
The ministry’s Director General of New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, Eniya Listiani Dewi, explained that despite the compatibility, ethanol content in Indonesian fuels remains capped at five percent due to ongoing assessments of ethanol raw material availability, particularly corn and sugarcane.
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Translator: Putu Indah, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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