Pertamina, PLN to purchase 5m tons biodiesel next year

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, and electricity firm PLN plan to purchase a combined 5 million tons of biodiesel next year amid rising domestic consumption, Kontan daily reported on Thursday.

Vice Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said that about 3 million tons will be mixed with automotive diesel fuel, and the remainder 2 million tons as mixture for fuel to be used in power plants.

Domestic biodiesel absorption has risen following the introduction of a new government regulation in September of last year increasing the minimum mixture of biodiesel in diesel fuel products to 10 percent.

Out of the country?s biodiesel output of 2.2 million tons last year, only about 700,000 tons were absorbed by the domestic market, while 1.5 million tons exported. The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (Aprobi) predicted that domestic consumption of biodiesel this year to increase to 900,000 tons. (*)