Govt allows use of E10 gasohol

The government has issued a decree to allow the use of E10, a mixture of gasoline and alcohol, as part of the efforts to reduce the consumption of oil.

The Oil and Gas Directorate General Decree No: 3674K, issued on March 17 states alcohol can mixed with gasoline up to 10 percent of the whole volume. In sales, the E10 gasohol is considered equal with 91-octane unleaded gasoline, Kompas said in its Friday edition.

Secretary of the Indonesian Association of Alcohol and Ethanol (Asendo) Untung Murdianto welcome on Thursday the issuance of the decree, while saying the new policy was actually a bit late as neighboring country Thailand has been using the fuel earlier. Today, there are 300 gas stations in Thailand selling E10 gasohol.

Until the issuance of the decree, the government illegalized the mixture of gasoline with other non-oil elements and punished anyone who did so.

According to Untung, the decree also allows the mixture of gasoline with ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE). He noted however it was better for Indonesia to mix gasoline with alcohol rather than ETBE as the latter was more expensive and should be imported. Meanwhile, Indonesia has produced alcohol locally.

?If we use alcohol, we don?t need to import it as (we can) produce it by ourselves. This will absorb local labors and local raw materials. The fuel (gasohol) is environmentally friendly,? Untung said.

President commissioner of PT Molindo Raya Industrial called on the government issue a ruling on the specifications of alcohol that can be mixed with gasoline. While waiting for the issuance of the ruling, he said, alcohol producers of the country had started to produce alcohol that was suitable for the production of gasohol. Technically, the type of alcohol which is suitable for the production of gasohol is the one with a purity rate of 99 percent.

The increasing price of oil has caused worries that the government should spend more to subsidize the consumption of oil-based fuel in the country. The state budget has allocated Rp 54.3 trillion in subsidy for the fuel consumption this year. Unless the government takes efforts to reduce the consumption of oi-based fuel, the subsidy is feared to soar to Rp 75.84 trillion, according to Paskah Suzetta, head of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) (*)