Migration of fuel consumption to Pertalite can make Pertalite scarce?

The rapid migration of fuel consumption from Pertamax to Pertalite is expected to make the quota for 2022 swell.

For your information, the government, through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, has actually targeted a Pertalite quota of 23.05 million kiloliters (kl) by the end of 2022.

However, due to the increasing migration of fuel consumption to Pertalite, the quota could reach 30 million kl or swell by 6.95 million kl from the original quota.

Executive Director of the Reforminer Institute, Komaidi Notonegoro, explained that the annual average Pertalite consumption reaches 22 million kl.

However, with the establishment of Pertalite as a Special Fuel Type for Assignment (JKBP) replacing Premium, it is clear that there will be considerable migration potential.

Considering that Premium consumption is approximately between 6 million kl to 8 million kl per year.

"So if we add 22 million kl, the consumption can reach 28-30 million kl," he explained, as quoted from Kontan.co.id, Tuesday (12/07/2022).

Furthermore, he said that at the same time Indonesia is also faced with challenging fiscal conditions in 2022.

With the implementation of this fiscal policy, the government certainly needs to limit the purchase of Pertalite, so that the quota will not be broken by the end of 2022.

In line with Komaidi, Nicke Widyawati, as President Director of Pertamina, also revealed that shifting or consumption shifts are bound to happen.

However, Pertamina continues to carry out calculations to measure the amount of consumption displacement that occurs.

"So further arrangements must be made to keep the displacement under control," he said.

According to him, with proper control, not all consumers will switch to subsidized fuel.

If the entire community switches to subsidized fuel, there will certainly be a potential increase in the burden on the state in the future.

Meanwhile, a member of the Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas) Committee, Saleh Abdurrahman, said that the tightening of purchases must be done if there is no additional subsidy or compensation from the Central Government.

"Pertalite consumption in Indonesia is more than 25 million kl and if there is no additional volume from the Central Government, the solution is clearly tightening," he said.