Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Reveals Latest News on Pertalite Fuel Subsidies

Firda Dwi Muliawati, CNBC Indonesia

Friday, 10/20/2023 19:15 IWST

Photo: A number of vehicles queue to fill up with non-subsidized fuel oil (BBM) at a gas station in the Jakarta area, Wednesday (1/3/2023). (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) revealed the latest news regarding the revision of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) no. 191 of 2014 concerning the Supply, Distribution and Retail Selling Prices of Fuel Oil.

This revised Presidential Decree will later regulate who is entitled to receive subsidized fuel, especially Pertalite (RON 90).

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif said that currently his party is preparing criteria for which people are entitled to receive subsidized fuel.

He emphasized that cars with a CC of 3,500 or 4,000 CC should not use Pertalite subsidized fuel because it could damage the car’s engine.

“What type of vehicle is eligible, the 3,500 CC class, 4,000 CC class (Pertalite), will damage the engine itself, if you can buy a big CC (car), you’ll have a lot of money,” explained Arifin when met at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building. , Jakarta, Friday (20/10/2023).

Apart from that, Arifin said that Pertalite subsidized fuel has high emissions. In this way, the use of non-subsidized fuel such as Pertamax Cs can help reduce the contribution of emissions to the air.

“Then it also reduces our emissions. Pertalite has high PM,” he added.

What is certain, he emphasized, will be that the revised regulations will be mapped and recipients of subsidized fuel will be included in Pertamina’s information technology system.

“That has already been mapped out, what type of motorbike, it is included in the list in Pertamina’s IT system,” he stressed.

As is known, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) continues to monitor the potential for movement or migration from the use of non-subsidized fuel oil (BBM) such as Pertamax (RON 92) to subsidized fuel oil Pertalite. This follows the price disparity between Pertamax and Pertalite fuel products which is currently quite wide.

Meanwhile, the selling price of Pertalite subsidized fuel is currently being held at the level of IDR 10,000 per liter since the last increase in September 2022. Meanwhile, the price of non-subsidized fuel such as Pertamax is now at the level of IDR 14,000 per liter.

“We are currently evaluating and we will convey it to the Minister later, the point is that the fuel supply must be met, we have calculated it, we have estimated how it should be done,” said the Director General of Oil and Gas (Dirjen Migas) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tutuka Ariadji, at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Jakarta, quoted Tuesday (17/10/2023).

For this reason, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources continues to encourage the revision of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) no. 191 of 2014 concerning the Supply, Distribution and Retail Selling Prices of Fuel Oil. The revised Presidential Decree will later regulate restrictions on Pertalite type subsidized fuel.

This is to anticipate concerns regarding the Pertalite fuel quota breaking at the end of this year.

“Well, we are basically pushing for that (revision of the Presidential Decree),” added Tutuka.

Previously, the government had planned to limit Pertalite fuel, one of which was through the CC specifications for car engines. The plan is that vehicles that are still allowed to buy Pertalite are cars with engine criteria under 1,400 cubic centimeters (cc), and also motorbikes under 250 cc. Thus, vehicles above this cc are not allowed to fill up with Pertalite fuel.

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