Pertamina to import low sulfur fuel in July

State owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina will start importing low-sulfur diesel oil with low sulfur content in July this year at volume of between 4 to 4.5 million barrels per month.

"All diesel fuel would have a sulfur content of 3,500 ppm (part per million)," Pertamina?s head of fuel division Djaelani Sutomo Djaelani said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The government has set a new regulation obliging the use of diesel oil with a sulfur content of 3,500 ppm in order to reduce pollution. The regulation has however sparked protests from industries, claiming such type of fuel is difficult to obtain. They now use diesel oil with higher sulfur content of 5,000 ppm.

According to Djaelani, Pertamina would import the fuel from several countries, includlng Singapore and Kuwait.

"The import would start in July with the normal volume of 4-4.5 million barrels per month. We had asked all suppliers to produce diesel fuel with a sulfur content of 3,500 ppm and they must be committed. Frankly, not all plants in the world could produce such type of fuel" he went on (godang).