Pertamina to boost sale of biopertamax to cut loss

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina said that starting in the middle of May of this year, it would boost the sale of fuels, especially biopertamax in 23 gas stations in Indonesia to cut the loss incurred from the sale of biodiesel.

Out of the 23 gas stations, fifteen in Jakarta, five in Surabaya, East Java and three in Malang, also in East Java. Currently, Pertamina sells biopertamax only in 10 stations with volume of 10 kiloliters per day.

?Rather than waiting for a subsidy for biodiesel, it is better to start the sale of biopertamax. Biopertamax contains 5 percent ethanol which we take from Molindo Raya," said Pertamina?s head of fuel division Djaelani Sutomo.

PT Molindo Raya is located on Malang Regency, East Java. It producing ethanol with current operating capacity is more or less 45,000 Kiloliter / year.

Earlier, Pertamina said that it would not supplement the selling volume of biofuel labeled by Biosolar and Biopremium because the products gain no subsidy from the government,

Djaelani said on March 28 that Biopremium and Biosolar would not be developed anymore but the existing sales in public fuel filling stations (SPBU) would not be subtracted. (*)