Pertamina sells more biodiesel this year

State oil and gas company Pertamina sold 2.4 million kiloliters of biodiesel from January to August this year, exceeding last year?s sales of about 2.39 kiloliters.

The company said that the increase was partly contributed to expansion of the distribution network for the biodiesel fuel, which uses a blend of 5 percent palm-based ethanol and 95 percent diesel oil, Pertamina?s director of marketing and trade Djaelani Sutomo said on Thursday.

With such an achievement, Pertamina is upbeat it could meet its target of seling a total of 2.68 kiloliters of biodiesel this year, he said.

The state company expanded its distribution network into North Sumatra in January this year to meet its higher sales target. Besides North Sumatra, Pertamina also sells its biodiesel in Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara.

Although the sales of biodiesel continues to increase, Pertamina has stopped the sales of biopremium due to the lack of ethanol supply, he added.. (*)