JAKARTA: State-owned energy company Pertamina will cut its import of low-octane gasoline, branded Premium, by half, to five million barrels per month next year as the company gears up work on two oil refineries, a top executive has announced.
Ahmad Bambang, the marketing director at Pertamina, said the company had been scaling back its imports gradually throughout the year, thanks to the additional supply from its new refineries, and would likely continue to see more reductions with more upgrades and new additions in the future.
Pertamina began operating its residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit at its refinery in Cilacap, Central Java, last month and resumed production at the Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama refinery in Tuban, East Java.
“Now, imports make up 30 percent [of Premium supply], while local production stands at 70 percent. That’s a steep decline,” Ahmad said in Jakarta on Sunday, noting that the ratio of imports to domestically refined Premium used to be 60:40.
Ahmad said Pertamina would also likely stop importing diesel next year, citing lower demand from industry. The government’s mandate to raise the mix of biofuel in biodiesel to 20 percent next year from the current 10 percent has also impacted demand for diesel, Ahmad said.
